Scream For Me
by wordstomyears
Summary: Everyone wears masks. Even the new girl, Poppy Blake, seems to be hiding something when she moves to Lakewood just as bodies begin to drop. Could what she be hiding be lethal towards Audrey Jensen? She doesn't know what this girl hides, but she's just dying to find out. And if the truth does come out, it'll be a scream.
1. New Girl In Town

**A/N: I made this because I love Audrey Jensen and I'm a little bummed we don't have an awesome girlfriend for her in season 2 so this was made! Since we haven't reached the end of the second season (and we might not get a third one yikes), I decided to put my OC in the first season. That decision built most of her character, so please enjoy my story!**

* * *

If Poppy had learned anything from horror movies, it was that staying in hotel by yourself was lethal.

Yet that didn't seem to stop the girl, no matter how many times she watched _Psycho_. Luckily though, she had enough sanity to not step into that shower since she checked herself in. Her sanity ran short however when she decided to take a walk, no matter how late it was. Poppy stuffed her hands into her pocket, her fingers running over her phone. If anyone did decide to attack her that night, the first thing she would do is call the police.

She almost jumped at the sound of a faint rustle behind her, and whipped her head around to see that the noise had come from the bar that stood not to far away. Instead of risking getting caught up with any of the losers who spent their nights there, Poppy decided to head back to the motel without hesitation.

The girl walked past the lobby, not even noticing the concierge that was waving at her. He ran up to the door, throwing it open so he wouldn't miss her.

"Excuse me, miss?" The man called over, and Poppy turned around to notice the motel employee. Her eyes went down to his name tag immediately and she noticed his name on the tag was 'Eddie'. She furrowed her brows for a moment,"Yes?" The girl asked him.

Eddie was surprised that she sounded so confused, and he gestured to his desk. "You ordered pizza. It came an hour ago so I'm guessing it's a little cold, and you left money to pay for it before you left on your walk... I'm assuming you still want it, yes?" He raised his brows at her, adjusting his glasses.

Poppy nodded her head in realization, mentally scolding herself for forgetting that she had ordered herself dinner. "Oh, right. You didn't eat any of it, did you?" She joked a little, going down the stairs to meet him in the lobby. Eddie closed the door behind her with a light chuckle before shaking his head.

"No, no of course not. Though I must admit it smelled pretty good when it first arrived. Did you enjoy your walk?" He was making polite conversation, but Poppy wasn't sure if she was up for it after the night she had. "Yes." She pursed her lips, deciding to humor the young man.

He smiled a little, oblivious to her discomfort and just trying to be friendly. "Is this your first time in Lakewood, Miss... Blake?" Eddie had to check the receipt for the pizza to confirm her name, but once he did his eyes returned back to her. Poppy shrugged a little,"More or less. Lakewood is quite... something." She finally decided.

The man nodded his head, noting that was neither an insult or a compliment, so he could choose which one he liked the best. Eddie tried to keep things positive, so he picked compliment. "It has that small town charm, I promise. Here's your pizza." He said, lifting the box from behind his desk and handing it over to her.

She smiled when she had her food in her hands,"Thanks, Eddie." She told him before giving him a small nod and exiting the lobby. Poppy opened the box when she started up the stairs. The girl picked out a slice of the cheese pizza, putting the edge of the triangle between her teeth.

It had lost its heat, but was adequate none the less. The girl made it to the top of the stairs, walking around the railing towards the door to her room. She almost dropped the entire box when the door next to her room opened. Poppy finished her bite of her slice of pizza, putting it down when the other door had opened.

A woman in her early twenties looked her over, putting on a smile. She had long wavy brown hair and glasses. "Is that pizza I smell?" The woman asked her. She seemed innocent enough as she leaned on the doorframe. Poppy nodded her head a little,"Yeah. Let me guess, didn't catch dinner?" The girl asked, noticing the hunger in the woman's eyes.

She nodded her head with a small laugh. "I guess it's pretty obvious, huh? What do you have there?" She peered over the lid to see that Poppy was carrying a cheese pizza. "Cheese. Classic. I'm a fan of the classics too, you know." The woman commented.

Poppy smiled a little before tearing off a slice she hadn't stuck her teeth in yet, and handing it to the woman. "Don't mention it." She told her. The woman smirked back at her, looking down at the pizza in her hands before she moved back into her room. She closed her door and Poppy couldn't help but wonder if that was the last she saw of her.

Her eyes went over the room number. _213_.

The girl shook off the encounter and pulled out the keys for her room, she unlocked her door before opening it and stepping inside. Poppy put the pizza down on her bed just as she felt her phone buzz. She furrowed her brows and pulled it out.

She noticed the caller I.D. and rolled her eyes. _Nina_. What did that girl want from her now? Poppy rolled her eyes and clicked ignore before placing her phone on her bedside. The teenager went back to her pizza, oblivious to the fact that the call she had received might have been Nina's last one.

* * *

"You're late." Poppy commented, slowly making her way down the stairs. Before she could even reach the bottom, she was stopped by the man she was addressing. The girl furrowed her brows at Craig Patterson. He frowned at her for a moment, trying to think of the right words to say.

"Poppy... uh– your aunt, Tracy, she... she found Nina's body in the pool today." Craig informed the girl with a heavy heart. She furrowed her brows at his words before shaking her head a little. "No... no. You're wrong. I talked to Nina last night. I explained everything. I told her I was going to stay with you guys. She couldn't be– no. She yelled at me. She was mad at me... she's not dead." Poppy tried to rationalize but she knew the more she talked the only thought on her mind came to the call she received last night.

Nina had called her and she didn't even pick up. What if she had? Would that have made a difference whether the girl lived or died? Not knowing was the worst part, and the girl was suddenly left with the worst combination of words in the entire universe: what if.

* * *

The car pulled up to the front of the school and Poppy waited nervously as her aunt seemed on edge. Craig had told her that Tracy had screamed at the sight of her daughter's lifeless body floating in the pool, and Poppy honestly had trouble imagining that. "Are you sure–" Both women stopped when they realized they were about to ask each other the same thing.

Knowing that she probably owed the woman more for taking her in, Poppy closed her lips together to let her aunt speak. "Are you sure you're going to be okay to start school today?" Tracy asked her carefully. The girl frowned as she assessed her aunt, who hardly looked like she was okay to drive.

"Nina's dead. I can't change that. I can't bring her back. If I don't move on now, I'll never move on. You have to start thinking like that too, you know." Poppy pointed out, keeping her emotions contained behind her lack of a facial expression. Her aunt didn't seem impressed by her words, and frowned at her.

"I lost my daughter. You don't get to tell me what to do." Tracy said, a little angry at her but, being the person that Poppy always knew, she hid it. She was always the type of woman to hide behind the pretty things in life. Having her daughter murdered was hard for her, but Poppy didn't doubt that Tracy would be back to the superficial rich housewife she always was in no time.

While the woman hid her angry, Poppy was finding it hard to contain hers. She could keep herself from crying over spilled milk but the girl rarely kept her anger in check.

She unbuckled her seatbelt and opened her car door. Poppy stepped out of the front step, looking back to her aunt as she grabbed her backpack. "Maybe I wouldn't if you hadn't done the same to me when my mom died." She pointed out.

Tracy was surprised when her niece snapped to her, and normally she would've backed down from this argument but the mention of her sister put her off. "You didn't have the luxury to feel sorry for yourself. Your mother left you alone in the world and when you're alone you don't get to shut down like you did." Tracy told her sternly.

Poppy rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest as she glared at her aunt. "I was only alone because you never helped out. You let me rot in foster care for almost two years and did _nothing_." She told her.

Her aunt couldn't help feel guilty over that. But it's not like Poppy ever made things easy between them. Before the woman could say anything in response, the bell rang.

"Go to class." Tracy instructed, looking around at all the students who were filing in through the front doors. Poppy dialed down her anger a little as she closed the car door on her aunt.

The teenager turned on her heels, arms still crossed over her chest. She felt a little ridiculous starting at a school already into its semester, but she took a deep breath and reminded herself that at least nobody was talking about the new girl. It had been only a few days since Nina Patterson was discovered dead, but no matter how much time passed the murder was always going to be on people's minds.

She looked around as she made it to the front doors, her eyes scanning the crowds of teenagers that she had no idea who they were. Poppy already knew there was always a way to tell where a student in high school fit in. Countless tropes and stereotypes movies and television had introduced to her. That's why it wasn't a surprise to her when she could already categorize the first person that came up to her.

"Allow me." A tall guy put his hand on the door before Poppy could ever get her hands on it. He moved past her smoothly and opened the door, staring at her in a way Poppy wasn't liking. "The Jake always opens the door for pretty girls." Jake smirked at her, gesturing for her to enter.

Instead of letting her get pushed around by some ladies's man, Poppy moved over to the next door and opened it for herself. "Well tell 'The Jake' that he should try this again next time with some other girl." Poppy told him, putting on a sweet and sarcastic smile as she entered the school.

Poppy kept on walking, adjusting the step of her backpack on her shoulder when someone linked arms with her. "Nice takedown. Love the hair by the way." The blonde commented with a sly smile, as she reached over and gently touched one of Poppy's ginger locks.

The girl raised her brows in confusion at the girl's presence, almost stopping in her walking to address the stranger who had just approached. Before Poppy could ask any questions though, another girl with dark hair appeared on the other side of her.

"Don't mind Brooke, she just admires other people's abilities to be... spirited. I'm Riley, by the way." She said with a smile, offering Poppy her hand to shake. Poppy nodded her head and shook Riley's hand before looking back to Brooke. She unlinked arms and stopped as a third girl joined.

 _Great_.

"Look, you guys seem like you already have a holy trinity going on here and it's not like we need the four horsemen of the apocalypse, right? I just need to get to the office. You know it being, my first day here and all." Poppy said, a little uneasy that she was being recruited to the preppy popular girls already.

The third girl who approached her seemed to be more nice like Riley than whatever Brooke was, and reached her hand out to point in the direction of the office. "The office is right down there. I'm Emma, just so you know. Did you just move here?" She asked her.

Brooke raised her brows as she grabbed onto one of Poppy's shoulders,"Oh my God, moving to a small town when a girl's just been killed? Can you imagine the horror?" She asked. Her two friends sent her a look that clearly meant she wasn't helping, but the blonde just shrugged as she raised a brow. "What?"

"Yeah, I'm living the dream. Catch you guys later." Poppy commented before rolling her eyes as she began to take off. She made her way down the hall when she was stopped by someone. The girl turned around and noticed it was Riley.

She smiled a little apologetically. "Sorry about that. Brooke means well, she really does. Well... usually she does. She's thinking of having a get together tonight at her house if you're interested? It's in honor of the girl who died. Nina Patterson? It could be a great way to make friends... if you're interested." She offered.

Poppy couldn't deny the girl's efforts, Riley seemed genuine. She nodded her head and Riley grinned at her acceptance. "Cool, here's my phone. Put in your number and I'll text you the address." Riley raised, holding out her phone. Poppy smiled a little at how eager the girl looked, and took Riley's phone and entered her number.

Once she got it back, Riley looked at her new contact. "Cool." She repeated, looking back up at her. "Nice to meet you, Poppy." Riley told her before leaving to return to her friends. Poppy wondered for a moment if she made the right decision attending something held in Nina's honor, when none of her friends seemed to know of the family relation.

* * *

She had to _nearly_ sneak out to make it to the 'get together'. Poppy had already guessed that it was a party, knowing that if Nina's friends were anything like her it had to be a party. She dressed herself accordingly, a crop top and a tight skirt, even putting on heels.

Her outfit had one deviation however, and that was the black beanie she put over her hair. All day she had gotten comments on how she looked like Nina and Poppy didn't know if she could handle any more of those comments from the deceased's friends.

Nina hardly ever wore beanies whenever Poppy got the chance to hang out with the girl, so she felt that it would most likely throw off to the kids she went to school with. She fiddled with her necklace as she pulled the car keys out of the ignition, reminding herself that she had to thank Craig for convincing her aunt to let her borrow the car for tonight. Tracy was reluctant to give the girl that kind of freedom after the fight they had, but Poppy got lucky.

The girl stepped out of the car, her eyes falling on Brooke's house. Earlier on during the day, Poppy had learned that Brooke Maddox was the daughter of Mayor Maddox so the huge house shouldn't surprise her but it did anyway. Poppy was just shocked at how nice the houses of the rich seemed in Lakewood. Even Nina's house was a catch.

She took a deep breath before approaching the house, her ears already filling with the music that was playing. The door was wide open and it sounded like the party was in full swing. Poppy stepped inside, looking to the boy she had met earlier take shots with his friends.

This was definitely a high school party.

Poppy rolled her eyes as she looked around to the rest of the room, noticing two of the girls she had met earlier were sitting on a couch. Brooke took notice to the girl's eyes, and stood up with a smile.

"Hey, Riley told me she invited you. Welcome!" She said, linking arms with her once again before she began pointing. "Drinks and food are over there and suits are in the cabana if you want to swim." She introduced before walking her over to where she was sitting.

"You know Emma from earlier, and this is Emma's boyfriend, Will." Brooke said, each person waving small when they were introduced. Emma wore a smile on her face but Will looked disinterested with Poppy. "This is Poppy. Right?" She turned her gaze back to her to confirm that was her name.

She nodded her head back at Brooke with a small smile, unlinking arms with her. "I think I'm going to get some food. Thanks for the introduction." Poppy told the girl before moving away to the food table.

Her hands got themselves on some pretzels when Brooke decided to sit back down. Poppy sighed as she turned to lean against the table, eating the pretzels out of the palm of her hand as she looked around the party.

She was never Nina. Poppy never enjoyed things like this. But she was pretty and people always assumed she was that type of girl. She tried to deny them most of the time, but she moved schools too much for people to get used to the real her. Besides it was never good for her when they figured out she was not this girl. Poppy could always understand why Nina acted the way she did. It was better to be the mean girl than to be the one on the other side of it.

Being on the other side sucked.

Poppy was starting to get distracted in her own silence when two new people walked through Brooke's door. She finished her brief snack as she watched Brooke get up from the couch and walk over. Poppy didn't have to know them to notice how much they stuck out here.

The girl always could tell where people fit in high school, and those two did not fit in at Brooke's party.

"Hi, Audrey. How are you?" Brooke asked, her voice shrill and filled with sweetness that Poppy could only assume that she was faking. "Good, thanks. Um, you know Noah." Audrey held onto her necklace as she gestured over to her best friend.

Noah looked around with a smirk,"I have a little place just like this in the Hamptons." He informed her. Brooke giggled uncomfortably with a short nod,"Okay. That's funny." She said briefly before turning her head. "Um, okay, food and drinks over there, and suits in the cabana if you want to swim." The girl said, going over her hostess introduction.

Jake appeared at her side, shot glass in hand. "But suits are completely optional." The boy smirked at he looked to Audrey, and she could almost imagine what he was thinking as he stared at her. Audrey rolled her eyes and pushed past him forcefully, bumping her shoulder to his chest as she did so.

She stopped as she realized everyone in the room had their eyes on her, including Poppy. Audrey stared at them all awkwardly as everything became painfully silent as they all looked at her.

Audrey sighed before saying a mental 'fuck it' in her mind. "I'm the one who kissed a girl!" She announced, knowing that was what everybody was thinking. Audrey moved forward, grabbing a bottle of vodka that was besides Poppy. The two briefly locked eyes before Audrey moved on without another word.

"Um, you know, star of the viral video." Noah addressed everyone in the room, awkwardly chuckling. "Hey, look, she's kissing a girl! Right?" His awkward laughter didn't seem to help his friend's outburst however, so the boy gestured outside a little. "Uh, we'll be outside." He added.

The boy turned and walked out of the room before he could say anything more stupid. Poppy furrowed her brows at the two, having the idea to follow them. She never fit in with this crowd anyways and it was about time she found a place where she did fit in.

She went after them, everybody else slowly falling back into the norms of the party after that arrival. Jake watched as the girl he saw earlier trailed off after Noah and Audrey.

"She's got a bottle of tequila and something to prove. I predict live girl-on-girl action by 10:00 p.m." He said before looking over to Brooke briefly. "Remind me who's that hot new girl?" The boy asked with a smirk. Brooke rolled her eyes and slapped his chest with the back of her hand. " _Tact_. She shows potential but she won't if you try and make her one of your gal pals. Leave her alone, Fitzgerald." She warned before looking to Emma.

Outside, Audrey walked past a group of people before stopping. She knew she wanted to get out of that room but now she had no idea where to go. "Are you going to even share that with me?" Noah joked as he caught up with her. Audrey shrugged her shoulders,"Probably not. I'm going to hide down to the pool. Maybe get some good shots." She decided.

Noah looked a little hurt when she walked off with the bottle in her hand. "Alright. Don't share with me... I'm going to get a drink." He said, to no one really by himself. The boy went off to find himself a drink as Poppy looked around.

The girl paused and wondered which one of them she should go after, but after watching the scene Audrey had just pulled her choice was clear. And it's not like Poppy thought the girl was cute or anything, or at least that was something she wouldn't admit to herself.

"Hey." Poppy called over as she approached the pool. Audrey looked up from her camera, surprised that anyone other than Noah or Emma was starting a conversation with her. She moved her camera to the girl's shoes, instead of saying hello back to her. Audrey raised a brow," _What_ are you wearing?"

She looked down at her heels before shrugging. Poppy sat herself down next to the girl, taking that response as an invitation to join. She unzipped the heels before kicking them off. "I don't see a problem with them." Poppy commented as she placed them on the ground by her hip.

Poppy lowered her bare feet into the pool, putting on a small smile. Audrey couldn't help but chuckle on how the girl sounded so casual about it. "All I'm saying is that I'm confused. Are they high heels? Are they sneakers?" She asked her, aiming the camera at the redhead's face.

"Both." She replied as she looked into the camera with a light chuckle. "I don't understand fashion." Audrey commented as she shrugged her shoulders. Poppy nodded her head before leaning back on her palms. "Don't worry, I don't either. Which is probably why I decided to wear them." She said.

The other girl nodded her head a little as she narrowed her eyes, realizing that she didn't recognize the girl. "You're new here, aren't you? Like that Kieran kid?" Audrey asked her. "Yeah. I moved in with my aunt a few days ago." Poppy explained with a nod of her head.

"Really? Then how are you liking Murderville?" Audrey questioned as she zoomed her camera in to see her response. Poppy furrowed her brows a little as she caught on to what the girl was saying. "I'm sensing this town has a reputation." She said, but it was more of a question as she was looking to the girl for confirmation.

Audrey sighed a little, feeling almost sorry for the girl who had no clue,"You should talk to my friend, Noah. He'd love to tell you all sorts of ghost stories about Lakewood." She told her.

Poppy frowned a little when she realized that Nina could not be the only one. It was bad enough that she was murdered in the first place, but adding more of a backstory to it would be a shame.

Silence fell between them for a moment, and Audrey stared at the girl who looked like she was coming to terms with the whole Murderville thing. "Hey... thanks for not mentioning it. The video. I know you were in the room when the whole thing went down." Audrey said softly as she looked at her.

"Hey, it's no problem. Though you know, I don't mind that sort of thing. It's no big deal." Poppy told her. Audrey pursed her lips as she frowned a little and she shook her head,"I'm not a lesbian." She said, almost too quickly and harshly in response.

The girl noticed her unease about it and Poppy took her feet out of the water. She went to grab her shoes, but paused and looked over back at Audrey. "You know you don't have to be a lesbian to like girls." Poppy told her before shaking her head. "Whatever. I was just trying to make a friend."

Audrey almost cursed as the girl stood up and walked away. Someone was actually being nice to her other than the only three people in Lakewood she was close with. Of course she had to go and ruin it because of the stupid video making her sensitive over everything. Audrey couldn't help it if she was questioning her sexuality, but looking back to it she didn't need to do that to that girl.

"Making friends?" She was surprised to hear Emma's voice, and she watched as her friend took a seat next her by the pool. "Tons." Audrey replied sarcastically, knowing that Poppy had stormed off. "Are you getting anything good?" The girl tried next, hoping to make amends with Audrey.

* * *

After Emma took off after Brooke dropped that small hint that her boyfriend cheated on her with the meanest girl in school, Audrey decided to drop the drama. She wanted to go after Emma, but she knew her go to 'I told you so' response wouldn't be the best thing for her now.

Instead she went after Noah, who had disappeared her sight. Audrey tried to remember the last place she left him and once she remembered, she quickly scouted the food and drinks table with no luck. She sighed as decided to look around the house. The girl made her way down a hallway, peering into the bathroom which door was left a little open.

Poppy was fixing her lipstick inside. Audrey paused before she could open the door fully, watching as the girl fixed her makeup. Talking to the girl made her sound nothing like she looked. In fact, Poppy looked a bit like Nina. She watched as the girl reapplied her maroon lipstick, which matched the crop top she was wearing.

She couldn't stop staring, almost having the urge to film the girl while she put on her lipstick. Audrey was thrown back into reality however when the other girl's hazel eyes fell on her through the mirror.

"Shit– I'm sorry. I didn't mean to creep you out." Audrey muttered, feeling embarrassed when the girl turned around to look at her. She scratched the back of her neck, afraid to look up to see the girl's reaction. After a moment with no response however, Audrey looked up a little.

The other girl was just staring at her, debating on whether to be angry or not as she put one hand on her hip. Poppy finally rolled her eyes before moving back to her tube of lipstick and putting the cap back on. "Whatever, right?" She said.

Audrey frowned at her words, knowing that the girl's response wasn't exactly what she hoped for. But it was better than her being full-blown angry at her. "I... I don't even know your name. I'm Audrey." She introduced herself, hoping that would help.

"Poppy." The girl answered as she looked at her for a moment, deciding to give Audrey a break. Besides it's not like she could afford to hold a grudge for the next century, Poppy didn't have any friends in Lakewood yet. Audrey relax a little when she noticed that the girl didn't seem that ticked off at her anymore.

Her original mission suddenly came back to her, and Audrey almost panicked when she realized she had no idea where Noah was. "I need to find my friend. The one I came in with. Noah. I'm afraid if I leave him alone too long some meatheads will do something to him." She told her, a little urgent.

She thought about it for a moment before Poppy recalled the last place she saw the boy. "I know where he is." Poppy nodded her head with a smile, before reaching out and taking the other girl's hand.

Before she could a chance to protest, Audrey was dragged along by the girl. Poppy took her away from the bathroom and down the hall into a room. A few kids were lounging around, but no Noah in sight. Poppy's eyes stopped at the couch as she furrowed her brows.

"He was right here. I don't know where he could've gone." Poppy said, a little discouraged by the lack of Noah on the couch. One of the kids with a solo cup looked over at the two. "Are you talking about that Noah kid? Because he passed right out. Jake thought it would be funny to take him down to the lake." The boy explained, looking down to their hands afterwards.

Audrey noticed the boy's gaze and quickly let go of Poppy's hand before turning towards her. "I think I might know what that asshole has planned. We have to hurry before we're too late." She told her, and Poppy nodded her head shortly before they took off running out of the house.

Wren Lake wasn't too far from Brooke's house, but the two girls were already too late when they got to the dock near the house. Other teenagers were already crowding around to see the boy being pulled from the lake.

They had to push some people away just to get closer. "Noah? Noah?" Audrey called over as she rushed past some people to her best friend's side. She leaned down as the frightened boy wrapped the blanket tightly around his shoulders. "I'm okay. I'm okay." He said, but the look on his face showed that he was anything but okay.

Poppy ran over to help Audrey, and she took the boy's arm and helped him onto his feet. "Oh my God." Audrey mumbled underneath her breath, feeling responsible for what happened. She didn't know when she left him alone that things would go this badly.

"Your friends are great, Emma. Thank you for the invite." Audrey said bitterly to her former friend, before looking to Noah. "Come on." She whispered to him and Poppy before leading the boy away from everyone. Poppy frowned and let go of the boy's arm. She ran up to Jake, placing her hands on her chest before pushing him back.

Jake stumbled back, surprised the girl had resorted to violence with him. Especially considering she was shorter and smaller than he was. "Where are his clothes, you jerk?" She demanded, glaring at him.

He raised both eyebrows,"I don't know what you're talking about." Jake replied, trying to act innocent even though it was clear he was guilty of it. However it didn't seem like Poppy was going to like what he considered a joke any time soon.

"Fine." He rolled his eyes, moving to lead her to where he stashed Noah's clothes.

Audrey lead her friend to the front of Brooke's house, over to where everybody had parked their cars. She gently rubbed his shoulders as she took out her phone to call her dad. The girl sighed as she let it ring a couple of times.

The boy besides her looked over, noticing she wasn't getting a reply to her calls. Noah frowned when he realized what this meant,"Your dad's not going to pick us up, is he?" He asked, a little afraid that the answer would be now.

When she turned her to look at him, she didn't even have to say it for Noah to know that the answer was no. "He must've fallen asleep working again." Audrey explained with a frown, knowing that neither of them wanted to walk home after what happened. Especially not when Nina's murder remained unsolved.

Poppy appeared in front of them, Noah's clothes under her arm. "If you guys need a ride, I could drive you home. I have my aunt's car with me." She said, leaning over and handing the boy his clothes and shoes.

Noah's eyes softened at the sight of his clothes, something he never thought he would be so glad to see. "You're an angel..." He trailed off, realizing he had no idea what the girl's name was. He looked to Audrey for the answer.

"Poppy." She whispered to him. "Poppy." Noah repeated with a smile as he looked back at the redhead. The girl chuckled at him before nodding her head in the direction of where she parked her car.

"Come on, I'll take you guys home."

* * *

The car ride home was filled with mostly Noah filling Poppy in on the whole story of Brandon James. It was a surprisingly on-topic conversation considering Noah was tossed into the very lake where Lakewood's homegrown killer met his nasty end. Once Poppy had dropped Noah off of his house however, the conversation died down as she went to drive Audrey home.

Poppy pulled to a stop to the address Audrey had given her, and she looked out the window before her eyes shifted to the girl. "This is where you live?" She asked her with raised brows. Audrey shook her head at her question,"No... I just wanted to see if a friend was still up." She admitted.

She nodded her head, catching on to what Audrey was hinting at. "Well, you can text me if you get home alright, right?" Poppy asked her. Audrey nodded her head and offered the girl her phone. "Sure. I'll text you the moment I get home." She promised.

"Good. You know, with a killer on the loose, we should really be more careful." Poppy commented as she finished typing in her number. Once the new contact was created, Poppy smirked as she went to take a selfie of herself. "Hey." Audrey said, knowing that the girl knew she was wasting her time.

The girl giggled as she leaned over. "Come on, smile for the camera. We can't have a bad picture of me on your phone. Right?" Poppy asked her. Audrey decided to humor her, and smiled as Poppy took a selfie of them together. She rolled her eyes as the girl set it as her contact photo.

"You're ridiculous." Audrey told her, snatching her phone back from the girl before unbuckling her seatbelt. She got out of the car, turning to look back at her. "Hey, Poppy." Audrey began, looking at the girl. Poppy raised her brows as she put her hands back on the wheel.

"Yeah, Audrey?" She asked her. Audrey smiled small before tucking her hands into the pocket of her jacket. "You might be new to Lakewood, but you've made two new friends tonight. Thanks for the ride." She told her before closing the car door.

Poppy smiled and waiting until she saw the door open for Audrey. She watched her new friend disappear into the house with a blonde girl, and her heart sank a little and she didn't know why. But at least she made friends. Poppy drove off, feeling that tonight was a success.


	2. Comfort

**A/N: Thank you all so much for you comments, follows, and favorites! They're all so encouraging. And wowie, have we've been getting some thrilling twists and turns from Scream in its two most recent episodes. I literally cannot wait until the season finale, but also don't want it to happen because I need more of my favorite Lakewood locals (especially Audrey).**

 **Enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

"The angel returns." Noah commented as he sent a smirk towards Poppy as the girl approached him. The redhead raised both brows to him as she swung her backpack around and got out her books for her first class. "I give you one ride home and listen to your serial killer story– and that what makes me an angel?" The girl questioned him with a chuckle.

Noah shrugged his shoulders a little,"The good ones always listen." He pointed out. Not too far away from where the two teenagers walked, the sheriff was walking towards them just as he recognized them both. "Hey. Noah Foster, right?" Sheriff Hudson questioned as he made his way towards them. Noah furrowed his brows in surprise that the sheriff had signaled him out. "Yeah. Uh, guilty." He answered, immediately regretting his words once they left his mouth.

The boy stumbled to come back from that awkward response, but his add on sounded even more awkward. "Well, I mean, not 'guilty', but... yes?" Noah finally stopped as he climbed up a couple of steps to meet the sheriff. Poppy was confused and backed the boy up just to make sure he didn't feel alone. While Noah noticed and appreciated it, the sheriff didn't share the feeling.

"I hear you have a particular interest in Brandon James." Sheriff Hudson stated, and both teenagers quickly understood what the man was playing at. "I have a lot of interests." Noah counteracted, but the sheriff barely flinched. "You mind stopping by the station tomorrow morning before school, answer a few questions?" He asked politely enough.

When Noah raised his hand to give a little salute, Poppy cringed at the sight. Noah was only making the situation worse by trying to lighten it with his awkward antics. "Will do, chief." Noah replied. The man gave him an odd look before nodding his head a little. "Okay." He answered briefly before his eyes shifted Poppy.

Clark went to take her aside, grabbing lightly onto the teenaged girl's arms. Noah opened his mouth to protest but Poppy sent him a look and shook her head. He stared in confusion as the sheriff took her off.

She was taken out of Noah's earshot and that's when the sheriff stopped. Clark paused before he looked at her. "Sorry about that. I know you and your aunt requested discretion about your relation to Nina, and I promised I would keep it." He said to her gently, and Poppy was just glad he didn't mention anything in front of Noah.

Poppy didn't have to know Noah that long to realize that he would tell Audrey anything, and after hearing the rumors that Nina posted the video of Audrey, she didn't want her new friends finding out she was related to the late mean girl.

"Your alibi checked out, but I still need to get you in for some question. We have a witness that places you and Nina together on the night of her murder. I expect you to have the answers for me after school today." He instructed, making it clear despite his earlier soft tone that this wasn't a question. Poppy frowned at the man, knowing that even though it was his job, she was still offended he was questioning her about these things.

The girl straightened up, trying not to show her clear indignation. "I fought with Nina hours before she was killed, Sheriff. Yes, we fought... but I wouldn't want her dead." She reminded him and pushed back the officer. Clark as surprised when the girl bumped her shoulder onto his body and he turned to watch her return to Noah.

"You have a file, Poppy. One that I have on my desk back at the precinct." He admitted. Poppy tensed up at the revelation, but she decided her best option was not look back and give him the satisfaction.

She ran over quickly to Noah and linked arms with the boy. "Let's go find Audrey." The girl mumbled and began to drag the boy along despite his expression that was begging for answers. "Poppy–" Noah started but she sent him a quick glare. "It's none of your business, Noah." She warned him.

Noah looked at her a little uneasy,"That answer wasn't suspicious at all. Good job, angel." He said sarcastically and she rolled her eyes to realize that might be his new nickname for her.

* * *

Four days since Nina's murder. It was hardly enough time to get over Nina's murder, but somehow her aunt was managing to be business as usual despite her epic scream over her daughter's dead body. Tracy insisted on driving Poppy to school every day, despite Craig's protests that she was doing too much too fast. At least she was resting at home, occasionally stepping into her daughter's room and crying however.

At least Sage kept her company. Poppy was actually grateful for that yappy dog who knew exactly how to comfort her aunt.

"How was the interrogation, Mr. Criminal?" Poppy asked, trying to get her mind off of Nina as Noah approached her. The boy rolled his eyes a little with a shrug,"Besides being criticized for liking a serial killer? Not much." The boy replied, adjusting his backpack over his shoulders.

Their party of two soon became a party of three. Audrey flipped open her camera, the shot immediately falling onto Poppy. "Are you always going to film me?" The girl questioned with a smirk and Audrey shrugged with a small smile. "Your hair looks good on camera. Not to mention less than half a week of hanging out with the two of us and you're already starting to look less like Nina 2.0 and more up to our speed." She pointed out.

Noah nodded his head in agreement,"Your vest and star covered jean shorts will fit in lovely with my graphic tees, angel." He commented and Audrey raised a brow as she shifted her camera to her best friend. Poppy rolled her eyes as she smoothed down her baggy t-shirt. "You two need to stop comparing me with the deceased." She told them.

"To be fair, I mean it in a guardian angel kind of way. Not a died and gone to heaven kind of way." Noah corrected her, but that didn't make it any better. Poppy still sent him a glare. Audrey caught all of the action of film, before she looked over to where most of the students were gathering.

"Speaking of the deceased, I was hoping to get a coupe of shots of Nina's memorial. Care to join?" Audrey asked, looking to Poppy. She knew Noah well enough to know that he would come with, but Poppy was still new. Their friendship was settling in very well, but Audrey couldn't be too cautious with this after how she reacted at the party.

Poppy nodded her head simply, trying to assure herself it wouldn't be the worst thing. Audrey smiled and began to lead the other two towards the memorial. For a girl who had been so mean in life, Poppy hadn't expected to see so many flowers. Neither did Noah or Audrey it seemed.

The three scanned over countless of flowers, letters, posters, and pictures of Nina. Audrey held her camera up to each. Noah stopped as his hand flew up to examine a certain letter that had caught his eyes.

" 'I miss you, Nina Bobina. Rest in Prada. Love, Miranda'." Noah read out the card before furrowing his brows. "Isn't that the girl Nina fat-shamed into some questionable Guatemalan liposuction?" He asked Audrey. The girl frowned before sighing a little,"Sounds like our Nina." She deadpanned.

The third party stared at the card with a sad look on her face, knowing that for Poppy that didn't sound like _her_ Nina. At least, not always. It wasn't always like that.

Noah caught on to a distant female voice that was smooth and calm. Poppy couldn't help but recognize the voice for some reason. All three turned around as soon as Noah did. "Who's that?" Audrey asked casually.

The woman turned, noticing all three eyes on her. She smiled as she made her way over,"Hey guys. I'm Piper Shaw. I'm doing a story for–" "Autopsy of a Crime. Yeah, your show is completely addictive." Noah gushed, earning looks from both Audrey and Poppy.

"Thank you. Fellow crime geek." Piper seemed to be happy that the boy was sharing the interest. Noah grinned small before he went to introduce himself and his friends. "Totally. Uh, I'm Noah Foster. This is Audrey. Poppy." He gestured towards the two girls, who each gave their respective wave. When neither of them said anything to Piper, Noah felt a little awkward.

"They're shy." He explained.

Piper looked over at Audrey,"You look really familiar." She commented as she stared at her. Audrey didn't exactly want to respond to that, but just met the woman's eyes. "You probably saw my video." Audrey suggested. A small awkward silence came over the group that was thankfully broken by Poppy.

The redhead stuffed one of her hands into her pocket. "I was just about to say you look really familiar. Something about... the classics?" Poppy was jogging her memory as much as she was jogging the woman's. Piper smiled a little, nodding her head in response. "Pizza girl." She recalled.

Noah's eyes lit up as he looked down to the girl besides him. "Pizza girl is better than angel." He whispered to Poppy, which only earned him an elbow jab to the side. Piper took that as a cue to change the conversation before holding up her phone which had her recorder on it. "So, I'm trying to get past all of the faux-BFF BS and get a clear picture of the real Nina Patterson. Did any of you know her?" The woman questioned.

 _Yes_ , Poppy thought to herself.

Before she could lie, Audrey answered first. "Yeah." The girl replied as she looked up from her camera. "Nina was a stone-cold bitch who got what she deserved." Audrey said firmly, her disdain of the deceased dripped with every word. Noah's eyes went a little wide when the boy realized what she sounded like. Poppy tried not to let herself be hurt by that comment.

Nina was a bitch after all.

"That is pretty clear." Piper nodded her head, looking to Audrey. "Can I quote you on that?" She asked. "No!" Noah exclaimed and took a hold of his best friend's shoulders. Audrey was skating on thin ice and she didn't even know it. "No, she was just saying words." He said, trying to sound jokingly about it.

Poppy caught on to the boy's actions, knowing about his interrogation that morning. "Please don't quote her on that." She said to Piper, a little concern in her eyes over the idea of Audrey being carted off to the police station for questioning. "And what about you?" Piper switched to Noah. "Did you have any thoughts on Nina's murder?" She questioned.

The boy considered her question for a moment. "You know, a few–" He began but was caught off by the loud yelling of one Jake Fitzgerald.

"Someone's ass is toast!" The angry teenager yelled throughout the crowd of students as he stormed past to find his first suspect. Noah grew instantly nervous and his eyes flickered back to the podcaster. "But some other time sounds good." He rushed out and immediately took off.

Audrey and Poppy followed with confused looks on their face. "NOAH!" Jake yelled as he moved closer to the group. Noah tried not to react and played it causal despite the other boy's rage. "What's up?" He asked a little weakly as Jake got closer. "Was it you, nerd? Was this payback for the lake?" Jake demanded.

Noah continued to play clueless. "Was what payback?" Noah asked innocently as Jake whipped out his phone. "My truck." He said, glaring as he showed the picture to the scrawny kid. "It went viral." Jake pointed out. Audrey attempted to step in,"Well, I mean, you know–" "Can it, les-beast." Jake cut her off harshly and pointed towards her.

When the boy turned back to Noah, Jake pushed him back against a pole. "Hey, leave him alone!" Audrey yelled at him. She looked ready to go in there and fight, and Poppy grabbed onto her wrist and shook her head a little. Jake was just angry, not exactly throwing punches yet.

"You know anything about this?" Jake questioned the boy. "No. But, you know, it is a sad statement of the decline of our public schools." Noah said nervously, trying not to look into Jake's eyes that seemed to be glaring holes into his head. Jake wrapped his hand around Noah's throat. "That's the wrong answer." He growled.

"I swear I didn't touch your truck." Noah mumbled out nervously. "If I find out you are lying, I swear to God... you are dead." Jake threatened menacingly. "I believe you." Noah finally met the other boy's eyes, in complete honesty this time. Jake stared at him for a moment, before slapping the boy gently across the cheek and moving away.

Poppy glared, unhappy how Jake had wrapped his hand around her friend's neck. This time she was the one that moved forward but Noah adjusted his backpack back on his shoulders and moved in front of her. He gave her a look, silently telling her it wasn't worth it.

Everybody around them let out a breath that they had been holding, and the other students around them scattered. Audrey lowered her camera and looked to Noah,"The spelling 'doosh' was an interesting choice." She commented, shutting her camera off. She had enough good material to last her the day. "Yeah, well, I should've used the spray stuff. I got paint all over me. I looked like Carrie at prom by the time I got home." He chuckled a little.

Audrey and Poppy returned his chuckle. "I really should've mentioned sooner that I actually own the spray stuff." Poppy admitted, which made her new friends smile. "Secret art freak. I knew her pretty popular looks had to be hiding something for her to hang out with us." Noah smirked over at Audrey who looked to Poppy before playfully bumping shoulders with the other girl.

"Poppy might look the part, but she is nothing like those girls." Audrey commented, which made Poppy's heart sink and leap at the same time.

* * *

"I have zero game." Noah whined to Poppy as they made their way to their shared English class. Since the girl was just transferred to George Washington, she had no idea what the teacher was like but Noah assured her that Mr. Branson was extremely likable teacher. Audrey appeared behind the two of them as they piled into the classroom with the rest of the students.

Poppy raised her brow at Noah,"You mean with Riley? You looked like you were doing well yesterday. And at the party. Just be yourself. Riley's super nice and seems like the girl who could truly appreciate all of... this." The redhead gestured to all of him as she took her seat. Noah slid into the seat behind her, which was good because he liked sitting up in the front.

It seemed so did she. It was more than he could say for Audrey, who was about to make her way to the back. She tapped her hands on Noah's shoulders. "You might want to listen to your guardian angel there, Foster. She's very wise." She said before moving to the back of the class.

"Thank you, Audrey." Poppy smiled, almost too sweetly, which only Noah caught sight of.

All the students were still caught on their phones from the GIF that was sent out, but as soon as Poppy saw it for the first time, she had turned her phone off immediately after. She couldn't stand to see Nina like that and knew it would be a hard conversation to face when she arrived home. "All right, guys, phones down." Mr. Branson instructed the class as he leaned against his desk.

"But, the Brandon James GIF put us on the map, Mr. B." Jake pointed out from his seat. "I mean, we've got like seven of the top ten trending hashtags right now." The teenager pointed out. "Is one of them shut the fu–" "Language, Miss Blake." The english teacher reminded the new girl, but some of the other students were already snickering at the girl's quick comeback.

Trying to steer the class away from Poppy's comment, and attempting to give the new girl a break, he shifted the topic to what his students should be focusing on. "You know, maybe you should focus more on your studies and less on Lakewood's web-buzz." Mr. Branson pointed out to his student.

Jake raised his brows, prepared to challenge the man. "Who can resist the murder selfie?" He grinned as he asked the question. Noah rolled his eyes, even more prepared to take him down. "Which is what the killer is counting on." Noah reminded everyone in the room.

The only one who seemed to be content with Noah speaking up again, was probably Mr. Branson and his only two friends in the room. Though Noah couldn't exactly see Audrey when she insisted on sitting all the way at the back of the classroom. "Alright, Will Graham, what is this killer's design?" His teacher posed, crossing his arms as he adjusting his leaning back on the desk.

"Well, murder's a lonely game, you know. I mean, say you're the killer, okay? You sneak into Nina's house, you skulk around and scare her and then you kill her. Boom! But then what? You take a victory lap around the pool? You just stand there, watching the blood spread out in the water, thinking crazy guy thoughts?" Noah started, getting rudely interrupted by Brooke.

"Creepy monolog alert." The blonde commented.

Riley was catching onto the boy's idea however. "So maybe it's no good if he's the only one who's watching." She suggested. "Exactly! Yeah..." Noah sounded almost too eager as he turned around to look at the girl. "Uh, it's the age of Instagram and Youtube and Tumblr. I mean, we need to share the things we do or it's like it never happened." he pointed out.

The girl received a text, a message alert sounding off. "Riley, phones off." Mr. Branson scolded the girl despite the fact she always listened to his lessons, and always was a good student. "Sorry, Mr. B." Riley quickly apologized as she went to read the text message. "My friend from St. Mary's texted. A girl that goes there died." She explained, sounding a little shocked.

"No way. Who was it?" Brooke questioned. "How'd it happen?" Jake followed after the blonde in questioning. Riley shrugged her shoulders. "It doesn't say." She replied.

Mr. Branson was a little uncomfortable to hear that, especially since he had scolded Riley for that text message. "Um, I'm sorry to hear that, Riley." He apologized. "Um, why don't we get back to–" The teacher began but was caught off guard when Audrey jumped onto her feet in the back of the classroom. "I have, um... to go to the bathroom." She said, and he couldn't stop her from leaving.

"Actually, let's all take a minute." Mr. Branson suggested, looking to his class uneasily.

* * *

Audrey sat outside the nurse's office, still clearly shaken after finding out about her girlfriend's suicide. Classes weren't over yet, so she was content to stare at the empty halls. She was surprised when her silence was interrupted when a familiar redhead appeared.

Poppy dropped her bag onto the ground, taking the seat next to Audrey. She didn't say anything at first, not even look at her. Eventually thought the girl turned her head to study the heartbroken girl. "Audrey..." Poppy began but the other girl simply shook her head.

"I don't... you don't have to say anything." She whispered at first, turning to look at the girl out of the corner of her eyes. "How did you get out of class?" Audrey questioned, trying to change the conversation. Poppy blushed a bit as she leaned back into the chair. "I told Mr. Branson that I had insane cramps." She admitted.

Under normal circumstances, Audrey would've chuckled. But this hardly felt like a moment for laughter. "I... I knew you'd be here. So... her name was Rachel, right?" Poppy said carefully. Audrey nodded her head softly,"Yeah." Her voice sounded like it was ready to break, and the girl tried to contain her emotions. She already cried and she still felt like shit.

Crying more wasn't going to help.

"Julie." Poppy whispered and Audrey furrowed her brows as she looked at the redhead. Poppy's eyes went soft as she looked over, her hands clasped together in her lap. "She... she didn't die. But– it felt like she did. She was my foster sister. We were the same age so... our foster parents originally were glad we got along so well. They were less glad when they realized we were more than just friends. Not only were we two girls, but we were foster siblings. So they separated us and I haven't seen her since." The girl admitted softly, forcing a smile so she wouldn't look so sad when she finished the story.

Audrey scanned the girl's face with a soft frown. "You... you didn't have to tell me that, Poppy." She told the girl gently. Poppy shrugged her shoulders a little, finally meeting the girl's eyes. "Yes, I did. I'm here for you... I wanted you to know that." Poppy said firmly.

The bell rang as class was let out. It wasn't too long before Noah found the two of them outside the nurse's office. He set down Audrey's bag in front of her. Poppy looked up at the boy and shifted over to the next seat over, knowing that best friend trumped over new friend any day.

Noah smiled small at the redhead, before he took a seat. "Hey, you." He said to Audrey,"You going home?" The boy asked gently. The girl nodded her head just a bit,"Um, my dad's coming to pick me up. I am officially distraught." Audrey admitted. Noah nodded his head a little as he felt his heart pang in sympathy for his friend.

"Right." He said, unsure of what exactly to say after something that heavy. "Um... I'm sorry about Rachel." Noah finally said sincerely as he looked at his best friend. "Yeah, well, uh... our relationship wasn't even legal under the bylaws of Lakewood Municipal Code, so..." Audrey trailed off. "Gay rights joke." Noah snickered a little, even though he knew it wasn't a time for laughing. He certainly didn't feel like laughing at all.

The boy then simply wrapped his arm around his friend's shoulder, pulling her in. Audrey rested her head on his shoulder and let herself be comforted by her friends until her dad arrived to take her home.


	3. Partners In Crime

**A/N: Wowie, the season 2 finale was a ride of emotions. And until we get confirmation about season 3 or until the Halloween special, you can enjoy my lovely story. Thank you so much for reading!**

* * *

"Hey, you sure you're up for filming game highlights?" Noah needed to ask that question, but did he need to ask it again? Probably not. Poppy sent him a look, silently telling the boy that he had probably crossed that line once too many. Noah caught onto the girl's look and opened his mouth to correct himself," 'Cause I'm happy to do it." He offered.

Poppy sent him a small nod, her silent approval. The two carefully watched the third party as she turned the corner. Audrey didn't even react, just kept her eyes straightforward as she replied. "I need the distraction." Her voice was painfully monotone as she barely looked at her two friends.

Noah decided to change the subject, hoping his two female friends could give him the insight he needed. He pulled out his phone and unlocked it, his eyes settling on the lack of a text message he eagerly awaited.

"So, Riley still hasn't texted me back." He commented with a sigh, his eyes falling onto Poppy. The boy had whined to her already about Riley and she hadn't run away from him yet so he hoped she could help. "I went full geek with the stargazing app, right?" Noah asked her. "Gosh, I wish there was, like, a line on a gauge somewhere."

The redhead chuckled,"Don't beat yourself up about it. Stars aren't geeky. What's geeky is ripping off my fashion sense with that vest of yours." Poppy scolded him mildly with a smirk as she reached over to flick Noah's vest. Wearing a vest over a hoodie was pretty geeky, and it wasn't nearly as put together when she wore one over her t-shirt.

She leaned back against the locker next to Audrey as the girl opened it. Noah frowned at Poppy when she touched his vest,"Excuse you, Angel. You did not invent vests. Han Solo did." He corrected. Poppy sighed, mocking a defeat. "You got me. I was ripping off Han Solo." She puckered out her bottom lip as Noah laughed. Audrey rolled her eyes at the two, but was glad to have them there. They actually managed to put a genuine smile on her face.

Interruption came in the form of Noah's cellphone chiming. Noah looked down to check and realized it was a text from Riley. His face lit up as he read its contents,"Game on!" He rushed to his excitement, looking up to realize Audrey and Poppy were still present. "Or, you know– I mean, I can totally stay and keep your batteries charged." Noah said.

"Go. Audrey has me. We'll be perfectly fine without you." Poppy told him. He made a face at the redhead,"You wound me." He told her quietly before looking to Audrey for her response. The girl nodded her head and gestured for him to leave,"Go. You have other batteries to charge." She joked.

Noah looked between the both of them,"You two are the definition of da bomb." He complimented them both before turning on his heels and practically sprinting to meet Riley. "Sweep her off her feet, Romeo!" Poppy encouraged. "Make good choices! Have fun!" Audrey added as the two girls watched their favorite friend disappear down the hall.

Audrey shut the door to her locker before looking to Poppy. "You know you didn't have to come with me to this stupid game. Noah just tagged along because he was worried and–" "I'm worried too, Audrey. Remember, I already told you I was here. I'm not one of those people who goes back on their words." The girl assured her. Audrey gave Poppy a small smile before nodding her head, remembering their previous conversation.

She was honest. Poppy told her the truth about her and another girl like it was nothing. The other girl didn't seem unsure or confused about why she ended up liking a girl in the first place. Audrey assumed maybe she was at the beginning, but it was sort of nice to think that people could act normal about two girls being together.

"Poppy, I know you're not someone who goes back on their word. I wouldn't assume that of you. I– you... you mentioned foster care? But you said you moved in with your aunt. I was just wondering– but you don't have to answer it. I don't want to pry or anything." Audrey said, a little nervous she was still on rocky waters with the girl after telling her off at Brooke's party. Even if Poppy had forgiven her so quickly and became her friend, something about her made Audrey nervous.

And the girl couldn't tell if it was a good kind of nervous, or a bad kind. Or both.

Poppy didn't mean to, but she grew visibly uncomfortable at the question. When Audrey picked up on that, the girl presumed she had crossed the line. "Poppy, look I didn't mean to–" "No... no, it's okay." The redhead whispered. Her voice was so quiet and fragile, it sounded like how Audrey felt when she found out about Rachel's death.

"My aunt and my mom always had a rocky relationship. Which is why when she died, I went to foster care instead of coming here. My aunt didn't want me... until now." Poppy explained. Audrey was surprised that she was being honest about something like this. She knew she certainly wouldn't telling people she had just made friends with about it, but making Poppy considered Audrey different from the rest.

"That bitch." Audrey couldn't stop the words from coming out of her mouth. Her eyes went wide when she realized she had no idea how Poppy would react to her calling the girl's aunt a bitch.

She was surprised when Poppy bursted out laughing, and Audrey smiled in relief that she hadn't managed to offend her again. Poppy moved over and slung her arm over the other girl's shoulders. "Come on, we wouldn't want to miss the big game would we?" Poppy asked, raising her brows with a smirk before they picked up their pace again when heading towards the gym.

The pair reached the gym, opening the doors. Once they were inside, Audrey shrugged off the other girl. She tried to convince herself that she wasn't embarrassed of Poppy or to be seen with her, but Audrey couldn't help but think of what other people might say. The cat was already out of the bag for her, everyone already thought she was a lesbian.

But she was with Rachel. It didn't feel right to have people think that so soon after her death that Audrey was the kind of person who would pick herself right back up with another girl.

That would never happen. Rachel was too important to Audrey for that to happen.

Even if it had been the right move, Poppy still looked a little disappointed to be shrugged off. But luckily she gave Audrey a look of understanding. Audrey was relieved once more and flipped open her camera.

"It has been an emotion week for Lakewood with the loss of two lovely young souls in our community, Nina Patterson and Rachel Murray." Mayor Maddox announced over the loud speakers. Audrey frowned as she looked down at her camera and immediately shut it off.

"Let's have a moment of silence." He finished.

Poppy glanced over at her side to look at Audrey. Honestly, the girl wanted to reach over and take her hand. But after just being shrugged off for putting her arm around her, Poppy knew better. She frowned when the room enveloped itself into the silence for the dead. Her mind went to Nina just as she felt something brush against the back of her palm.

She looked down to realize Audrey brushed the back of her palm against the back of Poppy's hand. Poppy looked up and met the other girl's eyes. Audrey gave her a small smile before turning her attention back to the mayor.

It wasn't exactly the hand hold she wanted, but it was something.

* * *

Poppy leaned over Audrey's shoulder, planting her chin down on the other girl's shoulder. Audrey had been staring at her footage from the game previously and nearly jumped when her focus was torn away by Poppy. The redhead couldn't help but chuckle at the girl's reaction. "I'm just trying to see if you got any good footage." Poppy batted her lashes innocently as she moved her head away.

Her actions earned her an eye roll from Audrey. Before she even had the chance to reply, the pair were approached by Emma. The third girl stared at Audrey nervously before she came closer. "Hi." Emma said, her voice quiet as she looked at Audrey. She turned her head to look at Poppy,"Hey Poppy." She acknowledged her.

The girl was lucky for Noah, who seemed to like informing Poppy about the ins and outs of Lakewood. Especially when it came to Brandon James. Noah covered the whole Emma and Audrey thing earlier, which made the interaction that came next just a little less awkward. But still awkward.

"I... uh, I liked the film you made for Rachel." Emma looked back at Audrey, trying to make things right between them. The girl knew fully well it was going to take time to repair their friendship, especially since Emma was the one who ditched Audrey in the first place. But she didn't mean to treat Audrey bad, things just usually worked out that way. Emma just couldn't seem to make the right choices.

Audrey looked at her, deciding not to get angry at her again. "Thanks." She accepted Emma's compliment and subtle apology,"It was just some clips." Audrey said humbly, knowing that she sent hours gathering up any clip she could find of Rachel to create the perfect tribute to a girl she loved.

The awkwardness was getting to her, and she sent a look towards Poppy. Poppy took her cue from Audrey and began walking away with her. "It was really beautiful." Emma fought as she went to catch up with the two girls. Audrey didn't seemed to reply to her attempt so Emma took a breath before trying again.

"Look, I know that Rachel had some issues." Emma began, saying the same thing that Audrey had been hearing from practically everyone. Rachel's parents and her dad both said the same thing, and she didn't know if she wanted to hear it from the girl who used to be so important to her. "What, the cutting? Let me guess, you're gonna tell me that she killed herself because she was depressed." Audrey snapped.

Emma stepped in front of Audrey and Poppy, shaking her head. "No, no! I did this. Okay? Whether the video was a tiny part of it or the thing that pushed her over the edge, I am taking full responsibility." Emma said fiercely, owning up to her wrongs. Audrey was a little surprised, while Poppy looked very surprised. She knew Emma was a nice enough person but it took guts to hold yourself responsible for something as horrible as that.

"You have every reason to hate me." Emma told her before looking at Poppy and then back again at Audrey. She said what she needed to say and turned on her heel. The two girls watched as she disappeared into the exiting crowd.

Poppy looked at Audrey, before carefully asking,"Do you hate her?"

Audrey had watched Emma until the girl could no longer be seen by her anymore, and once she was gone her attention turned towards Poppy and her question. She shook her head a little,"No." Audrey replied.

The other girl nodded her head before sighing a bit,"Need a ride home?" Poppy asked her. Audrey nodded her head back at her and the redhead turned on her heel and made her way to the exit of the school to get to her car. "I'm going to text Noah to see if he needs a ride too." Poppy said as she pulled out her phone. Maybe it wasn't a good time to text him during his date, but she didn't actually expect him to text back.

* * *

"You know you didn't have to leave your date, right? Riley could've given you a ride home." Poppy leaned over from her desk to talk to Noah. They still hadn't addressed the fact that he had run out on his date, and since Noah seemed to bring up Riley a lot to Poppy, she was surprised they hadn't talked about this yet.

Noah looked a little embarrassed as a blush crept its way onto his cheeks. "Actually... the real reason I rushed off to meet you was not because I needed a ride home, but because I didn't have– you know–" He cut himself off when he noticed Poppy was starting to get it. A teasing grin took over her features and her eyes lit up. She smacked his back roughly,"Noah, you dog!" She was careful not to shout, and resorted to a stage whisper of sorts.

He rolled his eyes, still embarrassed. "At least I was thinking about safe sex, right? Which is why I couldn't... go there." He explained. Poppy nodded her head,"Next time, get protection. Because she's definitely going to want to have–" The girl was cut off when the ball rang, and the two students decided it was time to finally pay attention to their teacher's lesson.

Mr. Branson opened a draw, closing it as he continued his speech. "See, Aristotle asked,'Why are we here? What is the meaning of life in the face of death?'." The man checked his desk, trying to act casual about what he was looking for. "Bet Tyler's wondering the same thing right now." Jake added his commentary. "No one asked you, Jake." Poppy looked back at the boy with a glare to which she only received a wink from Jake.

"Thank you, Poppy." Mr. Branson interrupted the two students from their interruption of his class, and the man still shifted through the books on his desk. "See, Aristotle also understood that volatile relationships, well, they can lead to tragedy." He continued.

Another interruption stopped his lesson as Brooke spoke up. "Looking for something, Mr. B?" The girl asked, bathing in the glory that she was the only one in the classroom who knew why their teacher was looking around his class. Mr. Branson didn't look too happy to be interrupted again, much less by the fact Brooke was enjoying this so much.

"We're all looking for something, Brooke." He answered her. "See, desire, that's at the heart of drama. Desire for love, power, money. I'm talking about Jason and Medea. Talking about Antony and Cleopatra. I'm talking about Emma and Kieran." The teacher looked over at the two students in question.

Emma looked surprised when she not only heard her name, but heard her name next to _his_. "Excuse me?" She asked her teacher. "I'm splitting you all into pairs." The teacher explained, his eyes catching a certain hidden picture in his classroom. "Uh, you and your partner will choose a dramatic scene to perform in class. Now, let's no just limit ourselves. We can choose something contemporary, like movies. Audrey and... Poppy." Mr. Branson looked back at his class, hiding the naughty picture of Brooke he found the Shakespeare quote stapled to the bulletin board.

"If anyone suggests the pool scene from _Wild Things_ , I will end you." Audrey looked around her class before her eyes landed on a certain redhead in the front row. Poppy looked behind her shoulder at Audrey before sending the girl a smile and lifting her notebook. On her paper, the girl had written 'I GOT U' with a smiley face underneath.

Audrey fought the urge to chuckle and just nodding her head with a smile as Poppy lowered her notebook. "Or, if it's too much for you attention span, pick a favorite TV show. Riley and... Noah." He paired the two together, earning smiles from both respective students. Noah looked over at Poppy and she mouthed 'condom' to him. The boy couldn't help but blush again.

"I'll even allow popular fiction, Jake and Brooke." Mr. Branson continued, which perked Jake's interest. "How about _Fifty Shades of Grey_?" He looked over at Brooke with a smile and she looked disgusted with him already. "In your dreams, mouth breather." She told him. Poppy looked behind her over at the blonde and Brooke was glad to see that the redhead approved of her slandering of the boy, knowing that it had become Poppy's usual job to put down Jake.

"All right, everybody. Let's get going to the library. I'm gonna pair the rest of you up there. Get going on these selections. Let's go." Mr. Branson was already grabbing his briefcase as the rest of his students began to pack up.

* * *

From a distance, Poppy's notebook didn't look that heavy.

But did that make a difference when she slammed it down onto the table? Of course not. Though the sound it made was worth more of an elephant being slammed down onto the table rather than a notebook. Audrey raised a brow as Poppy opened it up, revealing some sketches on a couple of pages and thousands of notes that looked like it had nothing to do with class.

"Here it is." Poppy stopped halfway through her notebook and found the list she was looking for. She slid the pages over to Audrey for her to see. "A list of every movie I've ever seen, sorted into genres and alphabetized obviously–" "Obviously." Audrey cut the girl off with a teasing smirk, making Poppy stop her ramble to lock eyes with the other girl. Audrey took the notebook into her hands and began inspecting all of it.

She furrowed her brows as she went further into the list,"I think there's every movie ever made on here, Poppy." Audrey commented, impressed with the girl's extensive view list but also a little overwhelmed with the countless of names she had put in. Poppy smiled a little with a nod. "I love movies, and art. This notebook is a mesh of all of it." She revealed. Audrey continued her way through the list before she stopped at the first deviation.

"You put _Heathers_ in the horror movie category." Audrey pointed out the flaw, but Poppy just raised her brows at the girl. She didn't seem to think it was a mistake and Audrey couldn't help but gesture for Poppy to answer her with an explanation. "Nothing is more scarier than high school, right?" Poppy said.

Audrey couldn't help but smile as she looked back down at the list before nodding her head. "How about we do _Heathers_ then?" Audrey suggested. Poppy grinned as she began to like the idea. She leaned her elbows onto the table, reaching her head closer to Audrey who sat across from her. "You could pull off the perfect fem-J.D. and I'm obviously the perfect Veronica." She said. Audrey mirrored the girl's actions, putting her elbows onto the table before moving in.

"Obviously." She replied, making Poppy chuckle as she moved back into her chair. The girl began to pull of her phone from her backpack and grabbed her earbuds too. "You know, there's a musical of the movie, and it's one of the best things I've ever heard. Care for a listen?" She offered Audrey an earbud after plugging it into her phone.

The girl paused to consider it. "Musical theatre–" "Is not as bad as you think it is. Don't you trust me?" Poppy asked. Audrey shrugged her shoulders,"Maybe... but then again, Veronica is a murderer, isn't she?" She pointed out jokingly to the other girl. Poppy struggled not to burst into laughter at Audrey's teasing and decided to raise a brow. "Isn't J.D. too? They are partners in crime, after all." Poppy answered.

"And we're partners in crime too, right?" Audrey questioned, raising a brow just like the girl had done before. Poppy considered it for a moment before she gave a nod of approval. "We are definitely partners in crime."

* * *

Audrey opened the door to her room, stepping aside to let the redhead enter first. "You know, I still don't know what's so wrong with your aunt's house–" She cut herself off as she watched Poppy waste no time before planting herself down on her bed. Audrey looked around her room to see if there were any red flags she needed to get rid of quick, but luckily for her there was nothing that needed to be hid from the other girl.

She went over and sat down in her chair as she looked over at Poppy who spread herself onto her covers. "Making yourself at home?" Audrey asked her with a soft chuckle. Poppy moved over to hang her head upside down over the edge of the bed. "Side affect of never having a home. I moved around so much that any place with a bed is good enough for me." Poppy explained as she looked up at Audrey.

Moving her chair closer to the bed, Audrey reached over and poked the other girl's nose once she settled herself. "You're a huge goof, you know that, right? We have a project to work on." Audrey reminded her. Poppy sighed and decided to sit up, turning herself around and crossing her legs. As soon as she found herself comfortable in her sitting position on the other girl's bed, she looked back up at Audrey.

"Sorry. Did we narrow down the scene we want to do yet?" She questioned as she peeked over when Audrey brought out her phone. Audrey opened her notes on her cellphone and looked it over. "Chaos is what killed the dinosaurs, darling." She decided to quote the movie was the best way to bring up the scenes they decided on.

"Or you know, we could try that Heather Chandler and Veronica scene too." Audrey added before Poppy cringed and laid back down onto the bed. "If we did that, I would have to deal with being compared with Nina more– and don't say you'd play Heather, because we both know you wouldn't be caught dead acting like a mean girl." She pointed out.

Poppy had a point, and had managed to cut her off before Audrey could even offer to play Heather. She frowned and sat back in her chair before furrowing her brows,"Why do people compare you to Nina? You're too nice." She said, even though Audrey herself had been one of the people to compare Poppy to the deceased H.B.I.C.

The redhead groaned as she took a hold of her ginger colored locks. "It's the hair. I know it." Poppy was lying, mostly because it was the fact she was related to Nina that she looked so much like her. But she couldn't let Audrey know that she was related to the girl who was such a bitch to her all her life. It would immediately make their situation a Romeo and Juliet thing, expect Juliet wouldn't look past the fact she was a Montague in this situation.

Audrey managed a small smile at her comment,"If we're going off based your hair color, we should just do a scene from Anne of Green Gables." She suggested with a chuckle. Poppy rolled her eyes as a smile appeared on her face. It soon melted away when she realized the reference.

"No... no. Julie used to call me 'Carrots'. That would be–" She stopped herself when it got too hard for her to continue. Audrey shook her head,"You don't have to explain that, Poppy. I get it." The girl assured her, meeting her eyes. Poppy nodded her head a little before moving over on the bed. She reached over and patted the small spot next to her.

She couldn't really resist the girl's offer, and not to mention it was her bed after all. Audrey stood up from her chair and planted herself on her bed next to the redhead with a small smile. "Happy?" Audrey questioned with a raised brow. "Exceptionally." Poppy answered with a laugh.

The girl seemed so content, that Audrey knew it was a bad time to bring this up, but she couldn't help but feel that maybe Poppy could help. Besides, Audrey was looking for someone other than Emma to confide in and Noah was too busy thinking about Riley for her to drop the bomb yet.

"Rachel was murdered." She ripped it off like a band-aid, and watched as the other girl shot up from where she had herself pleasantly laid down on the bed. "NO SHIT!" Poppy exclaimed as she looked to Audrey with wide eyes. At least she wasn't denying it, which would've been much worse if she had done that. Audrey couldn't help but get a little angry when she mentioned it.

She couldn't imagine why someone would want to kill Rachel, but she knew she wanted the person who did dead.

"Emma's mom is the medical examiner. They think her suicide was staged and– the killer might've called Emma and might've sent her a DM and we might've sent him one back–" "Audrey." Poppy said, getting the girl to stop in her rambling. Audrey took a breath before silently apologizing when she met the other girl's eyes. "Audrey... are you okay?" Poppy asked.

Audrey wasn't prepared for her to ask her that of all things. She was expecting questions that she had the answer to, not that. In all honesty, Audrey didn't know the answer to _that_ question. But when she did begin to think about it, tears pricked at her eyes.

" _No_." Audrey finally answered. She didn't expect either for Poppy to put her arms around her, but surprisingly she felt herself melting into the embrace. Audrey was thankful that Poppy was there to hug her. She already had done enough to comfort her ever since Rachel died, and Audrey was wondering what she ever did to deserve Poppy.


	4. Blue Balls

She was going to have to do this eventually. After purposely missing the funeral, she knew that she couldn't avoid Nina's grave forever. Craig offered to take her himself and the two soon found themselves standing awkwardly in front of the headstone. Neither of them said anything the entire ride there. Craig proposed to his wife that she should join them, but Tracy wasn't ready for a grave visit. The funeral that Poppy had skipped out on was too fresh in her mind and she had cried the entire way through it.

Craig finally cleared his throat, dusting off the imaginary dust on his sleeve. He decided to wear the suit he had worn for the funeral, making the decision only after Poppy decided to change into what she would've worn for the funeral last minute. The man looked down at the flowers that Poppy had suggested bringing, and he offered them to the teenager. "It was your idea. You should get the honors." He told her, his voice soft.

The girl looked up at the man before hesitatingly taking the flowers. When they got to the flower shop, Poppy had went straight for the sunflowers. They were Nina's favorite flowers and hers as well. She wondered if Nina only ever said she liked them because Poppy liked to paint them. As a kid, she loved Van Gogh. Nina did too, but was always a _Starry Night_ person more than Poppy was a _Sunflowers_ person. Still, the girl wanted to believe that it was the right flowers to leave at the grave.

Poppy turned to face Craig before taking the flowers from the man. "Thanks for coming." She said quietly, afraid to meet his eyes. "You didn't have to. You don't owe me anything. I don't expect that of you–" The girl was caught off when she felt Craig's hand on her back. The man stared at her like a father would, and she couldn't help but think that since Nina's death he hadn't gotten the chance to act like one. "Poppy, it's okay. I know why you didn't come to the funeral. But you're here now." He pointed out, his gaze shifting to his daughter's grave.

He was right. She hadn't been there for Nina before, but at least she was now. Poppy knew it couldn't make up for everything that had happened between the two girls when Nina was alive, but she hoped it counted for something now that Nina was gone.

She placed the sunflowers at the base of Nina's grave before slowing standing up. It was hard for her not to cry, but the girl let a tear drip down her cheek onto the grass. Poppy brushed off her hands on her black leggings before looking at Craig. "I should go. Noah texted me earlier and said I should meet him up. Is that okay?" She asked him. Craig nodded his head a little,"Of course." He allowed.

"Thank you." She told him, turning around to head back to the car. Craig took a final look at his daughter's grave before looking back at Poppy. "Hey." He called over, getting the girl to turn her head back to look at him. "I'm glad you're making friends." Craig said honestly, giving her a smile that she once again associated with a father. It was too caring and loving to be anything but. She nodded her head a little, pausing in her walking until he caught up with her.

* * *

"What's with the funeral attire?"

Poppy didn't blame him for his words, because she had kept him in the dark. But that didn't mean Noah's words didn't hurt any less. She plopped herself down on the couch and stared up at the TV screens. "This is where you work?" She asked him, changing the subject so she wouldn't have to explain herself to him. Noah nodded his head, moving from behind the counter to join her on the couch.

The boy swung his legs over, placing them gently on Poppy's lap with a smirk. She raised her brows and gave him a look, but Noah was clearly not going to move his legs any time soon. "Okay." Poppy said quietly, accepting her feet. It was like when a cat decided to sit on your lap and fell asleep. How could you push that cat off your lap? No one would be that heartless. Though Poppy didn't consider Noah too much of a cat, more of a dog. A puppy would be the thing to describe him actually.

"So, Riley is meeting me tonight. I thought I could bring her here and show her one of my favorite places on Earth." He gestured with both arms to the store around him. Poppy smiled in surprise,"You're being yourself. See? Doesn't that feel good?" She was glad he was finally listening to her. Noah's face dropped however and he shook his head quickly. "Are you kidding? I'm terrified." He pointed out.

She chuckled a little when he looked at her with so much fear in his eyes. The redhead patted his sneakers gently,"You're going to be fine. Do you have a–" "Yes." Noah cut her off before she could even say it. Poppy raised a brow before deciding to continue and ignore his rude interruption. "So you got a c–" "Yes!" Noah exclaimed, putting his hand in front of her face to shut her up.

"You know if you're not mature enough to say 'condom', you're not mature enough for sex." Poppy scolded him for being so childish and a blush came onto his cheeks once more. He could only remember the last time that they had this conversation and he had turned into a tomato as well. "Poppy, have you ever d–" "Yes, Noah. I have." The redhead could see the question from a mile away, especially due to the timid look on his face.

Noah's eyes went wide and he awkwardly scratched the back of his neck. "Then, could you–" "Noah, I'm going to stop you right there. I'm gay. My first time was with a girl." She explained. Noah only looked mildly shocked, but didn't take it too much as a surprise. He just nodded his head a little before he met her eyes again. "That doesn't mean you still can't give me advice." He tried.

Her eyes went wide as she reached for one of the couch's cushions. She slammed it straight into the boy's face, sending Noah back onto the arm of the couch roughly. "Ow." The boy's voice was muffled by the cushion and Noah reached up and sent it back flying towards Poppy.

Poppy caught it with a roll of her eye. "Think of it like a chemical reaction. It's the attraction is already there than it's bound to happen. Got it?" She asked, gently lifting his legs off of her lap so she could get up. Noah furrowed his brows as he looked up at her,"You don't do very well in chemistry, do you? Because I don't think you know what you're talking about there." He said, cautiously trying not to offend his friend.

"Goodbye, Noah." The girl told him, heading towards the door in the shop. She didn't still want to be around when Riley arrived and give her the wrong idea. "Wait, Poppy, can't you at least tell me anything about–" Noah rushed onto his feet, trying to stop the girl before she left the shop. "Goodbye, Noah." Poppy sounded a little annoyed when she opened the door, and looked even more annoyed when the boy caught up to her.

He looked at her helplessly, giving her eyes that was definitely a puppy and not a cat. She sighed before she reached over and put her hand on his shoulder. "You're going to be fine, Noah. Riley likes you for who you are. Just be your cute and charming self and she'll fall head over heels in love with you." She encouraged. Noah smiled small,"You're the best, angel. Thanks for coming. I needed your approval." He told her honestly.

She smiled back at him before ruffling his hair. "Text me after on how it went. I want to hear all about how you romanced her." Poppy joked with a giggle, and Noah opened the door for her to finally let her out.

* * *

It was dinner time in the Patterson household, and things were _not_ easy.

Neither Craig or Tracy talked the entire time they sat across from each other, things even more strained between the couple since the death of their child and taking in Poppy. When the teenager arrived home, the only reply she was met with was the yaps and yips of the dog, Sage. Sage had taken quite a liking to Poppy ever since the girl arrived but she knew it was only because she looked like Nina.

Poppy entered the dining room, looking between the silent adults. "Geez, you guys act like somebody just died." It was an inappropriate joke and she should've never even said it. Tracy dropped her cutlery and the fork and knife crashed among the peas and mashed potatoes on her plate. "Don't you dare show up late for dinner with that kind of attitude." Tracy scolded her niece, barely capable of even looking at her.

The girl frowned as she took a seat and met the eyes of Craig. He looked at her, a little disappointed and Poppy felt guilty under his eyes. She mouthed an apology to him before picking up the fork in front of her. She wasn't exactly satisfied with the food in front of her, especially since Tracy hadn't been in the best shape the past few days which led to the food being a little undercooked. Or overcooked in the case of the burnt chicken.

She barely got through half the meal before her text message alert interrupted the silence. Tracy sent a glare towards her niece and Poppy gently pushed her chair back so she could take her phone out of the waist band of her leggings. She unlocked her phone to see a text message from Noah.

' _911\. She bailed. Please come._ '

When she looked up at the two adults, only one of them could tell what she was about to do next. Craig looked at her with soft eyes before he nodded his head towards the front door. "You can go." He told her. "Craig–" Tracy began to protest, moving to the edge of her seat to scold her husband. When he gave her a look however, the blonde woman settled down and eased back into her chair.

Tracy looked over at Poppy, her eyes hard, before nodding her head a little. "Car keys are on the table. Be home before midnight." Craig reminded her. Poppy smiled a little and stood up from her chair. She moved over and pressed a quick kiss to the top of the man's head. "Thank you." She whispered to him before disappearing out of the dining room. Tracy raised a brow at her husband.

"What?" He asked her. Tracy shook her head and continued to cut her piece of chicken on her plate. "Nothing... just– you seemed to replace Nina quite well." She pointed out. Craig frowned at the woman until she met his eyes again. "Poppy was never about replacing Nina. She was never about that, okay? _Ever_." He defended her.

Poppy frowned a little when she heard them talking just outside the dining room, and wondered if Nina ever overheard them having that kind of conversation when she was alive.

* * *

She texted Noah as soon as she arrived. Noah opened the door to the shop with a frown on his face. He didn't look sad or anything, but he definitely looked a little disappointed. "Care to fill me in on the 911?" Poppy asked, holding up her phone and pointing to the opened text that he sent her. Before replying, Noah made his way over to the couch and flopped down onto the cushions face first.

The girl nearly cringed at the thump Noah made when he made contact, but the boy didn't look like he was in pain. She sighed and moved over, moving his feet off the couch and taking a seat. "I'm sensing things didn't go very well." Poppy said, earning a muffled sound from Noah. The boy turned his face on its side, his cheek being squished into the couch now. "Are you familiar with the term blue balls?" Noah questioned.

Poppy tried not to laugh, but she couldn't help it. The girl bursted out into a fit of giggles, earning a glare from the boy. Noah proceed to crawl forward so he could sit up and he turned to look at her. "It's not funny." He said, not expecting her to burst into an even bigger fit of giggles. "It's not!" He protested. "Poppy, I really like her."

His words got her giggling to die down as she met his eyes. Poppy sighed and leaned over to rest her hand gently on his shoulder. "I'm not laughing at you." She said, seeing the unconvinced look in his eyes. "I promise!" Poppy tried again before grabbing her phone. She pulled up her music and brought up the song she was thinking about. "I'm sorry, there's just– there's a musical theatre song about blue balls." Poppy explained, showing him the song.

Noah raised both brows,"You're kidding." He said, immediately reaching over to play it. Noah half smiled the moment the first line came out. "This is ridiculous." Noah commented. The boy leaned back on the couch, letting Poppy play the music. She smirked a little at him,"Audrey had a similar reaction." She informed him.

"I– I just– I don't even blame Riley for bailing. I get it." Noah started to explain, peeking the curiosity of Poppy. The girl looked at the phone in her hand and paused the song before any of that singing nonsense could continue and distract Noah from telling her what happened. "Why did she bail?" Poppy questioned.

"Tyler texted her." He explained. Poppy's eyes went wide,"The guy who killed Nina?!" Since there was no other solid suspect, Poppy presumed that the boy was Nina's killer. "Poppy... I don't think Tyler killed Nina." Noah said honestly, scratching the back of his neck. She frowned and looked down at her hands. "If he didn't kill Nina, then who did?" She didn't mean to sound so angry, or sound so hurt. When she noticed the slip of emotion, Poppy hoped Noah didn't think anything by it.

She nearly jumped in shock when she felt him touch her. "Are you okay?" Noah asked, his eyes suddenly filled with concern for his friend. Poppy nodded her head,"Of course. I just– why do you think he didn't?" She asked, trying to steer the question back on him so he could ignore her emotional outburst. Noah hesitated to answer, feeling like he shouldn't just leave whatever happened to Poppy unsettled. "Because the sheriff questioned you and me." He finally answered.

Poppy furrowed her brows,"The sheriff didn't question me–" Noah saw right through her lie, stopping her right there with a look of his eyes. She had been questioned by Sheriff Hudson, but she didn't expect Noah to figure that out despite being right there when Sheriff Hudson had pulled her aside. "It's okay, Poppy. I read your file. I'm not judging you or anything for it." Noah told her.

"You read my _what_?!" She exclaimed. Noah cringed and rushed onto his feet before Poppy could take a cushion from the couch and pelt him with it once more. He even put up his hands in a defensive stance. "I didn't mean to! He had it open on his desk and he just stepped out for a moment so I thought–" Noah defended himself. "You thought _what_?" Poppy frowned and picked up a cushion and whipped it at his frame.

Despite having his hands up, the cushion still roughly hit his side. "I'm sorry, Poppy! But– it's not a big deal, is it? I read the file. You were charged with assault but the judge ruled it self defense so... you're okay, right?" Noah said. Poppy's frown only softened when she realized the Noah didn't mean any harm by it.

"That's all you know?" Poppy asked him. Noah nodded his head,"Of course, it was the only thing to see. I realize now that is was probably a stupid thing to do, but you know a criminal record explains why the sheriff decided to question someone who just moved here." He pointed out.

"Yeah. Right." Poppy nodded her head, retreating under the mask she usually wore around people. At least Noah and Audrey were sort of getting through it. One day she would tell them the whole truth. One day.

But not today.

Noah's phone buzzed and it took both of their attention away from Poppy's criminal history. The boy pulled the phone out of his pocket and opened the text. "Riley." He explained, briefly showing the screen to Poppy. "She's at the police station. Apparently they tried to lure Tyler out of hiding and it didn't work. And now they can't find Brooke."

She furrowed her brows,"Maybe you should call her." Poppy suggested. Noah shrugged his shoulders a little, unsure if he wanted to see her after she ran out on him. It wasn't like he didn't like her anymore but the way she left him so quickly he found kind of embarrassing. That's why he decided to text Poppy instead of Audrey.

While he loved Audrey, she would tease him a lot more than Poppy did. Not to mention he was really starting to warm up to the girl. She was quickly becoming best friend material to him. "Should I? I mean, she's worried about Tyler and Brooke–" "Noah." Poppy cut him off, giving him a look. "Call her." She told him.

The push from Poppy was what he needed and Noah decided maybe it was a good thing to see her after everything that happened. He could tell her that he didn't blame her and that he was _really_ looking forward to another date.

"I'll FaceTime her. I'll do that. It will be nice." He decided, moving behind the counter as he opened up the app on his phone. Noah pressed the call button once he found her contact and waited for the girl to pick up.

Nothing could prepare for what happened when he did.

" _Noah!_ " Poppy heard Riley's cry for help from the couch, and immediately jumped off the cushions to run to the counter where Noah was standing. "Riley. Riley, oh my God. Where are you? What's happening?" He moved from behind the counter, his eyes briefly flashing up and catching Poppy's. From the look in his eyes, the girl could tell what was happening wasn't good.

" _He stabbed me. Please call 911._ " Riley begged over the call. Poppy moved behind Noah to catch the sight of the crying girl on his phone screen. "Oh my God." She whispered, covering her mouth as her eyes flooded with concern. "Who stabbed you? Where are you?" Noah asked her, wondering if she was still at the station. But that would be impossible, because he was certain she would be safe there.

If she was stabbed, she couldn't have been stabbed at the police station... _right_?

" _The roof. Tyler. He's... gone._ " Riley struggled to get the words out, probably due to blood loss and the pain she was experiencing. Poppy looked at Noah,"Tyler, do you think he–" She was afraid to finish her question and Noah met her eyes before going back to his screen. "Hey, Riley, where are you?" He asked again. "Just look around, just tell me what you can see!"

Riley lowered her phone, and Noah nor Poppy could see her anymore. " _I can see our stars..._ " Her faint voice was heard over the call. "No, Riley! Hey... no... hey, you have to stay with me, okay?" Noah begged, wishing she hadn't lowered her phone so he couldn't even see her right now. But she was right. He did see their stars.

"Please! Please!" Noah begged when there was no response. "Riley?" He asked desperately. "Riley!" His shouts and begs amounted to nothing and Noah started shaking when nothing was coming over the call. He didn't know what to do, but Poppy leaned forward and ended the call. "What are you doing?" Noah whipped his head around to look for her.

Poppy took his phone and dialed 911 before handing it back to him. "Tell them what happened. I'm going to call Audrey." She urged him. Noah took a deep breath before pressing his phone to his ear to answer when he reached them. Poppy took out her own phone before stepping outside and finding Audrey's contact.

She clicked the girl's number and pressed her phone to her ear. Poppy took in a sharp breath of the cool autumn air, looking around the dark night. " _Hello?_ " Audrey's voice came over the speaker. "Audrey?" Poppy said, making sure it was the girl before continuing. " _No. Another Audrey._ " The sarcastic reply was all she needed to know it was her.

"Noah FaceTimed Riley and the killer stabbed her. Noah's calling 911 right now but you need to get over to the shop right now because Noah needs you." She rushed out, stopping to take a breath. It was hard to process watching someone die over a video call but she knew it would be easier if Audrey was there.

"I need you."

* * *

"Can't you park closer?!" Noah yelled, mostly due to nerves. He had already yelled at Poppy to drive faster once Audrey had arrived. The girl didn't take too long to get there. After Poppy said the words ' _I need you_ ', Audrey practically dropped everything to get there. "This is the best I can do. There are police cars everywhere, Noah." Poppy pointed out, unbuckling her seatbelt. She looked to the passenger seat where Audrey was seating and the girl gave her a reassuring look.

Whatever they found, they would get through this all together. Poppy just really hoped that they wouldn't find Riley's dead body but based on the police cruisers right out front, she guessed they might find just that.

The three piled out of the car, rushing down the street to the flashing lights of the police cruisers. Audrey and Noah took the lead, but in her own defense, Poppy was wearing heels. She caught up with them quickly however, just as they made it passed the police cruisers.

Noah stopped right in front when the coroners were wheeling a body bag on a stretcher by him. "Is that Riley?" He choked out, but none of them bothered to look at him. "Oh my God." He let out, Audrey reaching up to put her hand on his shoulder. His eyes caught Emma who was standing on the front steps with her mother.

"How did this happen?" He asked her. "How did this happen?" Noah repeated as Emma came down the steps, reluctant to answer him. A police officer moved right by him and the boy didn't hesitant to yell at him. "Hey!" "Noah–" Emma attempted to stop him but his fury was beyond his control. "Hey, 'protect and serve' my ass!" He yelled as the police officer ignored him.

Audrey and Poppy had to hold the boy back from physically assaulting a police officer. "Noah." Emma tried again to no success. "Where was he?" He was hysterical now, loosing control and neither Audrey or Poppy could hold him down. "Noah!" Emma begged him to stop but he wouldn't listen.

"She was right here!" He shouted. "Come on, breathe. Noah, stop!" Tears flooded Emma's eyes and his reaction wasn't making her feel any better about her actions earlier tonight. He wasn't even listening to her. "I don't understand. I don't understand." Noah repeated, letting his grief instead of anger take over him. "Who would kill her? I need to know." He said firmly.

Emma reached up to wipe the tears from her eyes. "Yeah. So do I." She replied, moving past the three. Audrey watched as her ex-best friend left them and her eyes fell onto Noah.

"Are you going to be okay?" Audrey asked him, carefully, like she was stepping on eggshells. Noah hardly responded at first, instead he looked at Poppy. "No. Not until that sick bastard is caught." He replied. "Do you still think that Tyler didn't do it?" Poppy questioned him, raising both brows. "I–" He began, looking to the where the coroners had dragged Riley's dead body off. "I don't know what to think anymore." Noah whispered.


	5. Middle Name

"Do you think he's going to be okay?" Poppy questioned her friend, standing outside of the shop Noah worked at. Audrey shrugged her shoulders and handed the redhead her cup of coffee. She carried the other two in her hand, one stacked on the other. Audrey texted Poppy that morning and they had both agreed coffee was something they could offer the boy to cheer him up.

Noah wasn't doing very well after Riley's death.

The girl watched as her friend went to open the door first, but Audrey paused and looked back at her. Neither of them knew what they would find when they opened the door, but both of them hoped the grief wouldn't be too bad on Noah. Poppy gave her a small reassuring nod and Audrey opened the door.

Audrey took a small step inside, looking over to find their friend laying on the couch. She frowned and let Poppy through the door after her. Audrey looked back at Noah before she decided to speak up. "Hey." The girl said softly, noticing that the boy was on his phone. Noah took notice to the two girls who had walked in and swung her legs over the side of the couch so he could sit up.

"Found you." Poppy put on a weak smile as she and Audrey made their way over to the boy on the couch. Poppy was the first one to notice that Noah was wearing the same clothes as he did the night before when they found Riley, and she gave a concerned look to Audrey. "Did you sleep here last night?" Audrey questioned the boy.

He didn't answer at first, only reached for the coffee Audrey had for him. "Thank you." Noah mumbled, his voice was hoarse and his eyes were red. Presumably from crying. Poppy frowned and moved over besides him. She picked up his plaid shirt and tossed it onto the table before sitting next to him. Audrey looked at her and joined Noah on the other side of him.

"If by 'sleep' you mean 'to stare numbly into space' then... yeah, I slept." His voice was a little bitter, but more hurt than anything. Audrey looked down at his phone,"What are you reading?" She asked him, pointing towards the screen he seemed to be so captivated by. "Uh, highlights from my brief text relationship with Riley." Noah explained as he leaned over to show the two girls some of the text messages.

Noah scrolled up to reread the texts. "Meet me by the football field." He read out loud, earning a soft chuckle from Audrey who recognized it. Poppy smiled sadly and the boy turned to look at her. "That's a really big one." He mentioned before looking back at it. "Uh, 'Yes, my mom's on a kale kick'." Noah read another one out loud.

Audrey cringed a little,"That's disgusting." She commented. Poppy scrunched up her nose a little too, remembering how Tracy had prepared herself and Poppy a kale smoothie that morning. "My aunt is too." Poppy admitted.

"Who would win in a cage match, Lady Gaga or Madonna?" Noah introduced another one, feeling almost ridiculous that this was one of the highlights of the text flirtationship he had with Riley. "Oh, definitely Gaga." Audrey answered, offering him a small smile. She was trying to cheer him up and Poppy caught onto to that. "No one is a match for her and that meat dress." Poppy agreed, earning a small chuckle from Audrey.

"Yeah, Gaga would totally win, right?" Noah said, briefly smiling. "Kick her ass." Audrey encouraged. The two girls were a little hopeful but then they saw the boy die again once more. He stared at his screen and frowned,"Yeah." He said numbly, putting his phone down on the table in front of them.

The boy slumped down back onto the couch before speaking again. "God." He whispered, staring at his hands. "I don't know, the Victorians had it right. You know, I wish I had, like– a lock of her hair..." He said, and Audrey smiled sadly before leaning her head down on his shoulder.

Poppy put her hand on his shoulder gently and he looked between both of his friends with sorrow in his eyes. "Something real." Noah finished. "You know, not just pixels." He added. Audrey looked up to meet his eyes,"You have memories." She assured him, knowing he was going through something similar to what she went through when Rachel died.

He was there for her. Poppy was there for her. And now they were both going to be there for him while he got through this.

"You know, maybe if I'd punched my V-card, the rules of horror would've kicked in." Noah joked weakly,"Maybe I'd be the one who died." He continued. Audrey shook her head, shutting down the idea right there. "I don't think that's how it works." She told him. Audrey reached up to fix his hair,"I would offer up Poppy to deflower you, but she'd just be taking advantage of your heightened emotional state and we can't have that." She joked, hoping it would cheer him up just a bit.

Instead she just got a light whack on the arm as Poppy reached around Noah to hit her. "You can't just offer me up for sex." The redhead scolded her, sending her a glare that Audrey just smirked right through. Noah scoffed a little before shaking his head,"Thank you. Yeah, that's very kind of you." He told Audrey before looking to Poppy. "Don't worry. I'd rather channel my anguish into something productive." Noah admitted.

She raised a brow at him to continue. "Maybe vigilante justice." Noah concluded, looking up to the TV screens where video games were still on. If the bad guy was always caught in the comics and what not, then the bad guy would be caught in real life too. And Noah was determined to be the one to do it.

Audrey seemed eager to encourage it, knowing it was better than him moping around the shop. "Hey, we could team up. Bi-curious and The Virgin and The Angel." She said, looking back at Noah and Poppy. "The Magnificent Three." Poppy added with a smile.

Noah rolled his eyes at the two girls. "That's the world's saddest crime fighting trio." He commented with a small smile, but his voice was still choked up. Audrey managed a chuckle however, and raised her hand. Poppy furrowed her brows as the two went in to do their handshake. "You guys have a handshake?" She questioned the two of them, raising both her brows at them.

"We'll get there, angel. We'll get there." Noah said, looking back at the redhead. Audrey nodded her head before gently tapping the boy's knee. "Come on, virgin." She encouraged, standing up before looking to Poppy. "Angel." Audrey winked and Poppy looked down as she stood up to hide her blush. When Noah didn't move, Audrey furrowed her brows at him. "We're gonna be late." She pointed out.

He simply shook his head. "No, you guys go." He told the two of them. "I'm not ready to face reality yet." The boy admitted, looking down at his hands. Audrey sent a concerned look to Poppy, but the redhead just leaned in close and whispered,"We can't blame him. Come on, we can survive a town hall meeting without him."

The two met eyes before Audrey nodded her head a little, not eager to leave her best friend behind but Poppy was right. Noah probably didn't want to be dragged out to that thing anyways after what happened.

* * *

It wasn't long before the to girls found themselves at the town hall meeting. Emma spotted Audrey when she walked through the door, catching sight of the girl with her camera and immediately calling her over. Maybe now that Audrey knew that the killer might have played a hand in Rachel's murder, that she would let Emma in again. The girl really did want to make up for everything, especially if this creepy stalker hurt Rachel because of her. He already hurt Riley and Nina, and the former was all Emma's fault.

"Brooke and I saved you guys seats." She told the two girls once they got closer, gesturing to the two seats behind them. Brooke raised a brow at Emma, knowing that she certainly had no part in saving a seat for Audrey. Poppy on the other hand, Brooke rather liked. But she wasn't sure if it was because the girl looked like Nina, or loved to put down the resident asshole, Jake Fitzgerald.

Audrey and Poppy took the seats behind the two girls. Audrey looked down at her camera, before leaning in so she could address the girl sitting in front of her. "How you doing, Em?" If Noah was bad, she wondered if Emma was worse. Audrey knew Emma was one to always care about her friends, even if she had dumped Audrey. But Riley was always the nicest ones out of all of them. Sometimes even more than Emma, which was saying a lot.

The girl pursed her lips at first, unsure if she could answer without wanting to cry like she had done earlier that day. "I've been better." Emma decided was the best answer, briefly turning her head to look back at Audrey. "My dad's got index cards." Brooke couldn't help but look forward as her father prepared himself to speak. "How could there be talking points today?" She asked.

Feedback sounded over the microphone as the mayor tested it. "Good morning, my friends." Poppy couldn't help but roll her eyes at Quinn's opening line. She hardly liked the man, and especially didn't like how he was handling everything. "I know that we are all still reeling from the events of the past few days." He continued. Poppy watched Audrey opened up her camera, turning it on so she could record. "And the loss to our community is something that we will be feeling for years to come." When the mayor finished, he looked to his side. "Sheriff Hudson?"

"I know there are a lot of, uh, rumors floating around." Clark began, nervously looking up at the crowd of people in front of him. "And I'm here to tell you what we know." The man continued. "Last night, it appears that Tyler O'Neill attacked Riley Marra outside the sheriff's station and then fled the scene. Riley died of her injuries before paramedics could arrive." The sheriff explained.

"Now, security footage shows that her assailant was wearing the same mask as the person who killed Nina Patterson." Clark said. Those words twitched something Poppy, noticeable enough for Audrey to give her a sideways glance. It was just awful for the redhead to think that the person who killed Nina also murdered someone she watched die over video chat the other night.

"And that mask was found in the wreckage of Tyler's car. Our M.E. is running forensic tests to confirm that the body found inside that car is in fact that of Tyler O'Neill's. But I am confident we've got our man." He looked out over the crowd before concluding his statement. "It's over." The sheriff declared.

Oh, how wrong was he.

Audrey couldn't help but shut her camera off in anger. Poppy clued in right away to what she was feeling. That entire speech didn't mention Rachel at all, even when Emma confirmed through her mother's finding that her suicide was staged. "Audrey–" Poppy began, going after the girl who was storming after the sheriff. Emma and Brooke took notice and Emma sent a look towards the other blonde. "Go." Brooke told her, watching as Emma went after the other two girls.

She didn't waste any time catching up with the man. "Hey, Sheriff!" Audrey called angrily, getting the grown man to stop. He turned around to look at her,"Yeah?" Clark asked casually. "What about Rachel Murray? Did Tyler kill her too?" Audrey questioned.

The sheriff caught onto what she was asking and he frowned slightly. "I'm afraid I can't discuss that." He dismissed her question. "We just opened our investigation." Clark added, hoping it would make her feel just a bit better. "But you are investigating it, right?" Audrey questioned. "You're not just gonna pin it on Tyler to close the case?" She was challenging him and the man could tell that. "No one's pinning anything on anyone." He defended.

He looked up to notice Poppy who had just caught up. "Poppy... maybe you should take your friend to see one of those grief counselors." He told the redhead before walking away. Audrey glared, moving forward to do something just as Poppy grabbed onto her hand. Emma appeared besides the two of them, noticing the look on her friend's face. "Hey, Audrey. Come on. I know." She said, placing her hand on the girl's shoulder.

Emma and Poppy shared a look before they both walked Audrey away from the place where she and the sheriff just talked, and away from where he walked off to as well. "Audrey." Emma began,"Look, we're gonna figure this out. I promise." She encouraged, her eyes flashing to Poppy. "All of us." She added. Audrey realized Poppy was still holding her hand and shrugged the girl off once more to the redhead's disappointment.

"The crazy thing is..." Audrey started, looking between her two friends,"I kind of want it to be Tyler." She admitted. Emma nodded her head a little,"I know." The girl empathized. "I just want it to be over." Audrey said. "It will be. Soon." Poppy assured her. "Everyone does. That's what I'm worried about." Emma confessed.

The two other girls looked at her confused for a moment, but Audrey soon understood. "You think the killer is still out there." She realized. Emma hesitated for a moment before replying. "I don't know. I hope not."

"Even if Tyler did kill Riley and Nina, why would he have been the one harassing me?" She asked. "It doesn't make sense." Emma decided. Audrey nodded her head a little,"You're right." She agreed. "But, if the killer's still out there– the question is: what is his next move?" Poppy put the question out there between the two of them. Emma didn't seem to have an answer, but Audrey did.

"Noah."

* * *

Poppy did _not_ approve of this idea. She did not approve of taking advantage of Noah's fascination with horror movies in his current emotional state. Even if Audrey was right and he was really good at figuring stuff out.

For once, Audrey was behind of the wheel of the car. She borrowed her dad's car for the day and decided to pick Poppy up. To avoid the truth however, Poppy had lied about her address and waited in front of somebody's else house that morning before the girl had gone to get coffee. Audrey paused at the red light, turning around to look at Poppy.

"You still don't approve?" The girl questioned, reading through the look on Poppy's face. She sighed a little before shrugging her shoulders,"Noah's the expert, right? I've watched just as many horror movies as he has." Poppy pointed out. She didn't expect her response to earn a chuckle from Audrey, and frowned when the girl did laugh at her. "I doubt you have a serial killer obsession, Poppy. Not to mention, I don't think you're the type of person who can figure out who a murderer is." Audrey told her honestly.

She scoffed at Audrey's response, clearly offended but Audrey couldn't tell as she began to drive again once the light switched to green. "I could _so_ do some sleuthing work!" Poppy defended herself. Once again she met with another chuckle from the girl. "Fine then. Humor me. Who is it?" Audrey asked, raising her brows as she turned a corner.

The redhead crossed her arms over her chest, thinking about it for a moment before replying. "What about the other new kid? Kieran Wilcox?" Poppy suggested. Audrey wasn't quick to buy it however. "Isn't he like the sheriff's son?" She reminded the other girl. Poppy rolled her eyes,"Hello? The whole keep your enemies closer? It's a total possibility. Besides, he just moved here and he seems super sketch." Poppy decided.

Audrey paused at another red light, turning her head to look at Poppy once more. "I know someone else who just moved here and seems super sketch." She met Poppy's eyes, and while she was being playful, Poppy wasn't.

"So now I'm the psycho murderer." Poppy huffed as she heard another chuckle from the girl. She looked over at Audrey to see a huge smile on her face,"Why do you keep laughing at me?" She questioned. Audrey shrugged her shoulders innocently, but the smile dimmed down from teasing to sincere. "You're cute when you're frustrated." Audrey said simply.

Poppy blushed, turning her head to look out the window so Audrey wouldn't catch it. For a girl who could be so teasing and nice to her, every time someone else was afraid and Poppy was touching her, she was always brushed off. She had gone through that. Poppy was used to being somebody's shame and she would never do it again.

None of them said a word until they parked outside of the shop. Audrey was silently wondering if she had said the wrong thing to Poppy, as the girl still looked quite flustered. She almost mentally scolded herself too for that comment about the girl being cute, especially after Audrey had been the one to scrub her back at the town hall meeting. Poppy was just a little confused about her emotions now, but she was more worried than anything that Audrey had accused her. Even if it was a joke at the time, if Audrey ever found out the truth it wouldn't always be just a joke.

The girls exited the car and made they way over to the store. When they entered through the door, they found Noah behind the counter. It was an improvement from finding him on the couch that morning, but the red solo cup in his hand wasn't a good sign.

"Noah." Poppy said as Audrey leaned her elbows down onto the counter. The boy hardly replied, just took a sip from the red solo cup. Audrey took the cup from his hand and frowned at him. "Hey." It wasn't a greeting, and Noah knew that. "Drinking on the job is a new thing for you." Audrey pointed out and hoped it wouldn't become a permanent thing for him. "They can't fire me." Noah pointed out.

By the tone of his voice, he sounded pretty bummed and wasted. "I'm the only one who knows how to reset the router." He reached for the cup again, lifting it to his lips. Audrey cringed a little,"At least take it slow." She begged. But Poppy reached out and took the cup away from him again. "Don't encourage this." She scolded Audrey.

She raised both eyebrows and hands,"Do you see me encouraging this?" Audrey bickered back. The two were interrupted when the door opened to the shop. "Noah?" Emma called, her eyes settling on him. The girl had to work a few shifts at work but said she would meet them at the shop later. Audrey stuck around the town hall meeting even after Emma had left and since for once she was the ride, Poppy had to stick around as the girl tried to get some a few shots. At least they didn't run into the sheriff again.

"Emma, uh– welcome to my nightmare." Noah said, not really used to having conversations with the girl despite the fact she was the best friend of Audrey before he was the best friend. "What's up?" Audrey questioned, her eyes falling to the girl's bag as she brought it out. Emma retrieved the yearbook from it and showed the three of them. "I got this in the mail." Emma explained.

All of them looked at it cautiously and Emma moved to open it to show the pages to them. "I think the killer is sending me some weird message." She admitted as she flipped through to get to the pages of interest. "A yearbook? That's not so weird." Noah said as he looked down at the book, to realize that the pictures of the victims were cut out. "Oh, holy Manson Family album!" He exclaimed. "Hey!" Audrey whispered and whacked Noah's arm lightly.

He looked up at Emma,"Sorry. Just... these were Brandon's victims." The boy explained. Audrey was starting to understand the message,"He stole their faces." She pointed out. "And then he scratched out my dad's. The only survivor." Emma nodded her head, finding the page before pointing her index finger down on the scratched out yearbook photo of her father.

"The truth lies where the mask was made?" Poppy read out the words written on the page, looking up at Emma. "I guess Tyler could have sent this, but it seems a little analog for a killer who's been using social media and cell cloning." Noah seemed a little doubtful as he reminded the three girls of the killer's M.O. Emma did consider it for a moment,"Well, I mean, he is taking me to the past. " She pointed out.

Audrey pointed to the message Poppy had read out loud. "Is this the message?" She asked to confirm. "Yeah." Emma nodded her head as she pointed towards it. Noah began to recall something as he looked over that sentence. "You know, the mask Brandon James wore was actually a surgical mask." He informed them. A hint of a smile showed on his face when talking about his favorite killer,"Some say it was all that held his face together–" "Noah." Audrey stopped him before could go off.

"Okay. Okay. Just... it was to protect his sutures from infection, post-op." He clarified. Emma furrowed her brows,"So who made it?" She asked the boy. Noah shook his head,"I don't know." He answered,"Brandon's surgeries were done at Lakewood General, out on the turnpike. But it closed down like six or seven years ago." Once he was done, he realized the opportunity at hand. His eyes went wide with excitement. "Please tell me we're going there!" Noah practically begged.

Emma shook her head,"No, we're... we're not going anywhere." She decided. "But it's a great lead!" Noah protested her decision. The girl slipped the yearbook back into her backpack. "Look, I know that you want to do something for Riley, and I do too, but... this could be a trap." She pointed out. Noah looked sorrowfully disappointed but he nodded his head. "Uh, yeah, fine. Okay." He said,"Why don't you take it to the sheriff? Yeah, go be law-abiding and whatever. I've got some grief gaming to do."

He grabbed his headphones, and moved past his counter. Noah took the red solo cup back from Poppy with a glare and made his way to the couch. Audrey narrowed her eyes at Emma. "I'll catch you later." Emma said quietly, barely meeting Audrey's eyes as she slipped her backpack on. "Emma." Audrey stopped the girl before she could open the door. "Em, you're going to that hospital alone, aren't you?" She asked.

"You can't do that." Poppy joined the two by the door, looking to Emma. The girl frowned,"I– I just keep thinking about what you said this morning." Emma admitted, looking to Audrey. "About what a relief it would be if it actually was Tyler who was behind all of this." She said,"And, I mean, if he sent me that yearbook and he's dead, then this isn't a trap. He's not there to ambush me."

Audrey understood,"And you'd have your answer." She finished the girl's thought and Emma nodded her head. "Yeah." She agreed. "But also, if it wasn't him..." "Then we go together. Prepared." Audrey decided, shifting her gaze from Emma to Poppy. Emma nodded her head, knowing it wasn't that bad of an idea to have Audrey around. And Poppy could be useful as well. "Okay." She accepted. "Cool." Audrey smiled small. The three of them paused and looked to Noah who was on the couch playing video games.

"Should we take Noah?" Emma wondered. "Oh, God, no. He'd be like a four year old at Disneyland. We'd have to put a leash on him." Audrey pointed out, not to mention the boy was a little of out it during that moment. Emma nodded her head,"Fair point." She commented. Audrey turned and picked up the camera before smirking a little,"He can watch the highlight reel." She swung her bag over her shoulder.

"Let's go." Emma opened the door to the shop, but once they went outside, Audrey was having second thoughts. Not about herself or Emma, because she knew she would always protect Emma, but about Poppy. She couldn't protect both of them at the same time and didn't want to be put in a position where she would have to choose one of them and regret the one she chose over the over. Audrey put her hand on Poppy's shoulder to stop her.

Poppy furrowed her brows at Audrey,"What are you doing?" She questioned, confused at the girl's actions. Audrey hesitated to tell her the truth and instead of looking at her, her eyes fell towards the shop. "I need you to take care of Noah." She found the lie quickly. But Poppy didn't seem to buy it. "That's a bunch of bullshit." Poppy shoved the girl back.

She didn't expect for the girl to push so hard, but she stumbled back and took a hold of the redhead's arm and spun her around to face her. Poppy stumbled forward, a little too close to Audrey. She moved away again but Audrey held her in place. "Poppy–" She began, but Audrey guessed the girl would only see through her lies once more. "Poppy... it could be a trap." She tried.

That didn't seem to work, as Poppy fought against her again. "All the more reason to go! You and Emma need me!" Poppy pointed out and Audrey cringed at the yelling. Emma paused before she could reach Audrey's car and where it was parked and she turned around to see their spat. "No, we'll be fine without you. But Noah does need you right now to be there for him and–" Audrey frowned when she realized she was lying again.

It wasn't working. Maybe the truth would work though. Audrey's grip on Poppy loosened, and she looked up slowly to meet the girl's eyes. "Look... if it is a trap, I could probably only protect one of you. And– I would protect you. Over Emma. Someone who I've known forever, compared to someone I hardly know. I don't know you. I hardly know anything about you. I don't even know your middle name." Audrey pointed out.

A small sincere smile came onto Poppy's face as she met eyes with Audrey. "Isadora." Poppy answered. Audrey furrowed her brows a little. "Like the dancer. Poppy Isadora Blake." Poppy continued before looking down at where Audrey still held onto her arm gently. She slipped out of the grip, before looking back up at Audrey to meet her eyes. She pulled the other girl into a hug. Audrey melted into the embrace for a moment before pulling away.

"Can I go?" She asked Poppy. The redhead nodded her head. "Go. I'll babysit Noah." Poppy assured her. Audrey smiled back at her before she looked over to Emma who was waiting for her. She looked back before waving a little to Poppy. After she ran over to join her friend. Emma watched as Poppy entered back the store. Once the door was closed, her eyes went to Audrey. "Do you like her?" She raised a brow.

Audrey's smile dropped as she shook her head in denial. "No. No, it's not like that– Rachel–" "Audrey." Emma stopped her. "You don't have to explain that to me. I know that you feel like it's too soon and maybe it is." She said. Audrey narrowed her eyes as she searched Emma's eyes for answers. "I'm sensing a 'but' coming on." Audrey said, pointing out the obviously.

Emma nodded her head,"But–" She began,"It looks like Poppy really likes you. And I'm not saying you should do anything, but I am saying is that you shouldn't push her away." She gave the girl the advice, moving over to the passenger side door of the car. Audrey nodded her head and took out her keys. She unlocked the car and opened the driver's door.

"Wait–" Audrey said, just as Emma had climbed inside and began to buckle up her seatbelt. Emma paused before she could do the buckle and looked over at her friend as she got into the car. Audrey shut the door behind her and looked back over at Emma,"Do you really think she likes me?" Audrey asked. She received a tiny giggle from the girl besides her. "I don't know, Audrey. What's your middle name?" Emma asked back, grinning at her friend briefly as Audrey started the car.


	6. Poppy?

Noah was already looking towards the door when Poppy reentered the shop. She could tell by the disappointment in his eyes that he already pieced together what was happening without him the moment the boy noticed the three girls leaving. The boy threw his headphones off, dropping the game controller in his hands onto the table. A few customers took notice but they were so occupied by what they were already doing to bother with him. "Noah–" Poppy began as she took a few strides to the boy.

Instead he just picked up the red solo cup and drowned the rest of the contents. "Don't." He warned her, pointing a finger and the cup at her. Noah pushed past her before dropping the red solo cup into the trash. His hands gripped the side of the counter, as he glared downwards before he finally decided to look up at her.

"I don't get it, Poppy. You saw her die too and now what?! Emma is all ' _Don't go. It could be trap._ ', and really she and Audrey were just trying to get rid of me because I'm too delicate right now to catch a killer. And you played along with them and are doing what now? Babysitting me? Because I need babysitting?!" His voice was so loud, that it finally got the attention of the customers. Poppy rushed forward to him, reaching over with both hands and pushing his arms down that had dramatically flew up during his little speech.

She frowned and shook her head,"It's not like that, Noah. We're worried about you. We all are. And don't forget you're not the only one who is hurting either. Emma lost her friends. Audrey lost Rachel." _I lost Nina_ , she thought to herself.

He seemed to soften a bit up at her words, lowering his arms without the need of her guidance anymore. Noah nodded his head a little before he looked down again. "I... I just want to help... Riley died thinking her friend killed her and if it's not Tyler, then maybe–" Noah paused when he realized he didn't know where he was going with it. He never really believed in anything like an afterlife, but he always believed that anyone who was murdered deserved their killer to be brought to light. It didn't feel right if that never happened.

Luckily, Poppy looked sympathetic to him. She knew she had promised Audrey that she wouldn't go, but Noah looked like he desperately needed this right now. Poppy didn't have the heart to tell him that he couldn't go.

"Okay... what if– and this is completely hypothetical– what if we go there?" Poppy suggested. Noah perked up like the puppy the girl had already pegged him out to be. She couldn't help but let a small smile creep its way onto her face as she looked at him. "I take that as a yes." She commented as Noah straightened up and clapped his hands together. He rubbed his palms together back and forth, and Poppy could already see the wheels turning in his mind. "Yes. We're off." Noah declared, looking around to the customers still around in the shop. "Everybody get out! If you're thinking of buying something, put the item on the counter and I will hold it for one day only! Out, everybody out!" He shouted.

All of the customers grumbled but eventually made their way outside, a few dropping a couple of games onto the counter. Noah made his way over to the cash register before locking it up. He then took his keys and gestured towards the door, letting Poppy leave first. "Wait, it's cold out so don't forget your coat–" Poppy leaned over the counter to grab the boy's coat before letting herself out. Noah switched the sign on the door, letting anyone know that the shop was closed. He then exited and closed the door behind him. As he was locking the shop up, Poppy approached him. "Can't you just get somebody to cover for you?" She questioned.

The boy shook his head. "Doesn't work like that. There's only like three of us who work there and one of them is the owner and the other is a guy in his forties who still plays video games in his mother's basement." Noah filled her in as he finished locking up. Poppy smirked as she soon found it unable to resist,"So you mean your future?" She chuckled at her own quip. Noah raised a brow, almost wondering if it was the alcohol in his system that gave him a small boost to fire back at her. "You mean the owner of my own business? Thank you, angel, you're so kind." He smirked down at her.

"Come on, if we don't hurry we'll miss the bus and it only comes every hour." Poppy reminded him as she made her way down the street. He furrowed his brows as he kept up with her, looking at her with suspicion in his eyes. "How do you know that?" He asked her, stepping in front of her to stop her from walking any further. She raised her brows up at him before placing a hand on her hip. "Excuse me?" She questioned.

Noah couldn't help it. Something was off, and something was not right. He only couldn't lie to himself and say that the fact she was arrested before wasn't just the tinniest bit sketchy. Noah was aware it was ruled self defense, but he never actually got the chance to fully read the file before Sheriff Hudson had walked in on him. He was lucky enough that the police officer hadn't caught him staring at it in the first place. The boy knew he had told Poppy a lie when he said it was no big deal, and he hated the look on her face when she realized it was a lie too. "You're questioning me? _Me?_ We're on our way to the hospital right now, why would I do this?" She asked him.

"Poppy, no– I don't think it's like that... it's just... I know you're lying and I haven't exactly figured out why yet. You happen to know the bus schedule around Lakewood, but I've only ever seen you move around by car. Audrey gave you a ride today. You keep giving me rides, including Audrey, and when you're not driving around you always are picked up by someone, who I _hope_ is your aunt like you say it is." Noah pointed out, trying not to offend her as he defended his case.

But it only seemed to offend her. She crossed her arms over her chest, huffing a little as she couldn't believe he was doing this right now. "Seriously, Noah? You think I'm suspicious just because I know a bus schedule? I could've looked it up!" Poppy exclaimed in her defense. Noah frowned when he realized she was right about her lying to him. "Poppy, why– why are you lying to me? We're supposed to be friends." He looked visibly hurt by her, and Poppy uncrossed her arms at the sight. He knew she was lying to him, but Poppy never expected him to be so upset about lies she didn't think should matter to him. "Noah... I'm... I'm sorry that I'm lying, but you have to trust me that I wouldn't lie unless I had to." She tried, her voice was a lot softer than it had been when she last spoke.

He sighed before nodding his head, accepting her. Poppy let out a soft breath of relief that he decided to trust her. She didn't want to imagine what would've happened if he didn't but she knew that she would do anything not to lose his friendship. She would do anything not to lose whatever she had with Audrey either.

"Poppy?" Noah began, looking at her with soft eyes,"Can you... can you at least tell me why you know that?" He asked carefully. Poppy was about to say no until he met her eyes. "What? No! You know I can keep a secret! I didn't tell Audrey about that arrest because I wanted to give you the room to tell it to her on your own time. Maybe even me, before I let it slip that I knew about it." Noah convinced her and Poppy let out a sigh as she nodded her head. "Fine. I used to live here. My mom and I took the bus a lot." She revealed.

It definitely wasn't the answer he was expecting, but it made sense and did answer Noah's question. "I never knew you lived in Lakewood before." Noah realized. Poppy shrugged it off a little,"Well, I was young and it was brief and you probably didn't know me back then. I only knew a few people." She explained. He nodded his head as he began to piece the fragments he had together. "So, you moved back here because of your aunt? And that's why you live here in the first place, because of your mom's sister?" He asked.

She nodded her head, before putting her hand on his shoulder. "Not bad detective work. Now let's go catch that bus or we won't be able to continue." She reminded him. Noah almost cursed as he brought out his phone to check coat time. They could still make it if they ran. He looked up from his phone to Poppy, reaching over and taking his hoodie from her.

"Come on." He said, slipping on the coat as he took off into a run in the direction of the bus stop that would take them to Lakewood General. Poppy ran after him, keeping up and silently thanking herself that she avoided wearing heels that day and settled for combat boots that were much easier to run in. In case they run into the killer, it would be a good thing that she chose practical footwear instead of the heels she had worn the day before when visiting Nina's grave.

The two of them quickly caught up to the stop just as the bus was rolling in. Noah fished around his pockets for change. He had student tickets he kept in his phone case, but he knew he was short on them and might only have one. Poppy and him stepped onto the bus. He couldn't produce efficient change for both of them, and removed his phone case to see how many tickets he had. "Score." The boy smiled when he realized he had three left. He placed two of them in the collection bin, smiling giddy as the driver rolled his eyes at him. "Come on, puppy." Poppy said, linking arms with him and moving to the back of the bus.

"Did you just call me puppy?" Noah questioned as he looked at her. He reached up and grabbed one of the handles that hung from the bar. Poppy reached up for the free one besides him, but it stretched her body because she was too short and hadn't worn heels that day. Noah gave her a look and Poppy sighed when she knew what he meant by it. She let go of the handle and grabbed onto his arm around to keep herself steady as the bus moved. "You call me angel." She pointed out. The boy couldn't argue with that, and instead of replying just let silence settle between them.

One of the older woman on the bus gave the two a look from her seat, looking at them like they were a couple. He didn't frown until the woman looked away, before looking down at Poppy. "Poppy?" Noah said, grabbing her attention,"You know... if you weren't gay, we'd make a cute couple. Maybe even a good one..." He trailed off, the thought suddenly in his head by the way the woman had stared at them. Poppy shook her head immediately,"No. You don't like me like that, Noah." She insisted. "How do you know that?" Noah furrowed his brows, asking her. A little offended she had shot him down right away. "I could like you like that." He suggested.

Poppy shook her head once more. "No. You don't. Because if you did, you wouldn't have started with 'if you weren't gay'. We make good friends, Noah. I know you might be thinking since Riley died that... is there going to be someone else?" She said.

He couldn't deny it. It had been on his mind. Riley had been the first girl since Audrey to really talk to him. He could hold conversations with her and he liked listening to her. Noah couldn't help but think he'd just be an awkward nerd forever and that no one would want him like Riley did.

"Well, I'm here to tell you that there will be. She will be smart, and beautiful. And nothing bad will happen to her and she'll stick around long enough for you to fall head over heels in love with her and you'll be happen. Because she'll love you back."

"Aw, you touch my heart, Poppy. You're really gunning for position of best friend, aren't you?" He asked her jokingly, mentioning Audrey just a bit into the conversation. "You know you can have more than one best friend, right?" Poppy justified, narrowing her eyes as she made her point which made Noah laugh a little. "Sure. I guess you can have more than one... but– maybe not. You know... if you and Audrey–" "Noah." She warned him before he could continue. He pouted at the fact she shot him down once more. "Hey, all I'm saying is that I see the way you look at her. You like her... don't you?" He raised his brows as he met her eyes.

She wanted to say no. She even thought of saying no. But saying no would be a lie and Poppy realized that. The girl found herself nodding her head a little. "Yeah. I do." She admitted, not only to Noah but herself. A automated voice came over the speakers of the bus and announced their stop.

Poppy let go of Noah's arm before giving him a look. "You sure you're ready for sneaking into an abandoned hospital?" She asked him. Noah smirked a little,"Are you kidding? I was born ready." He replied, making his way off the bus. Since the hospital was located out on the turnpike, they still had a bit to walk before they got there but at least they didn't have to walk all the way from the game store to get there.

It was a silent walk, none of them said anything most of the way there. They just both focused on what they might find when they got there. Emma and Audrey both had a head start so it might be perfectly safe since neither of them got any urgent phone calls. But maybe since they hadn't heard anything, something could be terribly wrong too.

They remained in silence until the hospital was in distance. Noah reached up and pulled the hood of his coat over his head, making Poppy raise a brow at him. "What? It's like 60 out today, and not to mention we are breaking and entering." He pointed out, trying to get the judging look on his friend's face to stop. "It's an abandoned building, Noah. Not to mention, I did not bring breaking and entering clothes." She was wearing white today which did make her stick out quite a bit. Almost as much as her ginger hair did. "I can always hide you in my coat." He joked, before pulling out a flashlight.

"Wait, why are you carrying around a flashlight?" She asked. Noah's face dropped a little at the question,"Well, last night was mine and Riley's date. I thought we might go out star gazing so I had a blanket and everything prepared... and things then got heated while we were at the shop and–" "I know how the story ends, Noah." She stopped him before he could explain more. Noah hated Poppy's words, mostly because they reminded him that Riley's life had ended and therefore so did her story. The two made their way close to the fence, finding it opened presumably by Emma and Audrey when they first drove in.

Noah and Poppy slipped inside with Noah taking the lead. Poppy stopped just as she made her way through, feeling as if there were eyes on her somehow. She looked back but she couldn't be so sure that she saw anyone around. Nothing popped out of her. Maybe it was just a weird feeling she was having.

Poppy caught up quickly with Noah, and the two noticed Audrey's dad's car parked out front. "The boards are torn down at the entrance." Poppy lifted her hand, pointing out the opening. Noah nodded his head before making his way towards it and slipping it. He switched on the flashlight in his hands and Poppy produced her phone and turned on the flashlight app. The two shone their light on the darkness that filled the abandoned hospital.

"Okay... so, would you kill me if I said I think this is a bad idea?" Noah asked. He was answered with a whack in the arm, and he wasn't surprised. Poppy probably was mad with him after everything he put her through just to get her to take him to the hospital in the first place.

" _Now_ you're having second thoughts?" She huffed out, raising a brow at him,"I'm risking what I promised Audrey just by coming here." Poppy pointed out. Noah stopped in his tracks before looking back at Poppy and shining the light on her face. Her eyes squinted immediately, and the girl stumbled back a little when the light was shone directly in her eyes. "Audrey wasn't worried about me, was she? She was worried about _you_ coming here." The boy realized.

Poppy knew it was the truth, yet she still denied it by shaking her head. "Noah, you know she's only worried about you–" She began but cut herself off when she noticed he wasn't buying it. Eager to change the subject, Poppy just looked around the hospital as they made their way around. "Maybe we should split up. This place is big and you know we won't find them as quickly together." She suggested as they moved around. Noah frowned instantly at her words,"I thought Audrey said you were a film geek. Haven't you watched enough horror movies to know you should never split up?" He questioned, unable to believe that Poppy would be so foolish to suggest something like that.

The girl couldn't help but chuckle at him. "This isn't a horror movie, Noah." She teased him, looking back at the boy as she took the lead around the hospital. "Besides, technically speaking we're already split up." Poppy pointed out, reminding him that the two of them were still separate from Emma and Audrey. His face dropped when he realized she was right. "Shit..." Noah said softly, looking behind him to check if there was anyone there despite not hearing anything. Poppy lifted a hanging tarp, nodding her head for Noah to go in first so they could check the place out. Noah headed in first, not seeing anything out of the ordinary as they walked down the hall.

"That means that the killer must be here and they're just waiting to split us up even further and kill one of us." He suddenly realized. Poppy rolled her eyes at him before shaking her head,"You're being paranoid. Remember, if the killer is Tyler, it means he's already dead." She reminded him. He sighed, a little disappointed she didn't believe him. But she had a point. If the killer was Tyler, then they were safe. But if his hunch was right, it could mean they were in danger. He pointed the flashlight onto the ground and that's when he saw it.

"Holy moly guacamole." Noah muttered, which gained Poppy's attention. The girl perked up, looking back at him with a smirk. She was about to tease him just when she noticed what he was looking at. Noah's flashlight was pointed towards the floor, and it brought to light a trail of blood. "Oh my God..." Poppy trailed off as she tipped her phone down to shine more light onto the trail. She moved it along, noticing it led to doors up ahead of them. "You know it looks like a body was dragged, right?" She asked Noah.

He nodded his head, getting a little nervous. "I know what it looks like, Poppy." Noah insisted before he began to pace a little in the spot he was standing. He didn't know what to do. This clearly didn't look safe one bit and he couldn't help but think that maybe it didn't look safe because it was a trap and Emma and Audrey had already walked in to it and now they were too. "We shouldn't follow it, should we?" He asked Poppy carefully. She frowned when she realized that despite how creepy it looked, they did have to follow it. "Audrey would've." She told him.

And she was right about that. When Noah thought about it too, Audrey would've followed the trail. "Okay." He agreed. Poppy decided to take the lead again this time, knowing that she wouldn't forgive herself if anything happened to Noah. She at least hoped Audrey would forgive her if she let anything happen to herself. Poppy shone the light on her phone towards the doors pausing when saw what was spray-painted on them.

It was Brandon James.

She couldn't help but get chills at the sight of the graffiti. The mask was definitely creepy, reminding the girl of what the face of a ghost might look like. Poppy guessed the killer probably left it to mark his territory. "Poppy?" He said, getting her back into reality. Poppy looked over at him and raised both brows, staying silent so he could continue. "This isn't a horror movie, huh?" Noah threw her words right back at her, his voice uneasy as he did so. She frowned before reaching for the door handle and opening it up. It made a creaking noise as it opened, and Poppy entered first while Noah followed behind. He let the door close behind him and he kept up his flashlight as he moved forward.

Poppy stopped to look back at him. "I really think we should split up." She suggested again. Noah shook his head as he lifted another tarp that was in there way, trying to ignore the dried blood stains on it. He took a step forward, not looking back at her to even deny her to her face. "There is no way we're splitting up. We talked about this. No one in a horror movie survives when they split up. I know you want to find Audrey and Emma, but I cannot stress how much splitting up is a definite n–" He decided to look back around at her to finish the speech, and that's when Noah realized she wasn't behind him any more. "Poppy?" He called, looking around to see where she went.

There was a light on ahead. Noah wanted to go back when he realized Poppy hadn't followed him, but the light might have meant Emma and Audrey were close. He bit his lip before he made his way closer to the tarp that was illuminated by the room which light was on. Noah bumped into something. At first his mind went to the worst thinking it was a dead body, but he looked down at the closed box, a little curious. It must've had something heavy in it, but reading the label he assumed it must be old files from the days when the hospital was up and running.

He parted the cut opening in the tarp, moving inside the room. Despite the light, he still shone his flashlight around the room. The boy cringed at the sight and smell of the dead pig on the trap. How lovely. The killer left a rotting pig on a gurney. He took steps around the animal carcass, trying to avoid the stench of death and the flies that swarmed around it. He shone his flashlight into the darkened room next to the one he was in, trying to see if anyone was there. Noah moved forward, parting the plastic stripes that separating the room.

Audrey and Emma suddenly jumped up from their hiding spots. Audrey grunted and began to swung her crowbar towards the hooded figure while Emma used her friend's stun gun, fully charged and aimed towards his groin. Noah stumbled back, trying to avoid getting tased. He fell back onto the ground, groaning at the impact hit him quite hard. Not to mention he was still buzzed from the alcohol in his system. "Noah? What the hell?!" Audrey yelled.

Not a second later, a ginger came running into the room. She stopped in her tracks at the sight of the two girls standing over Noah, who was knocked down on the floor. Audrey's eyes went wide at the sight of Poppy, a little mad that she soon realized that the girl had disobeyed her. Poppy dropped to Noah's side, helping him up. "Did you just try to tase my man-parts?" Noah asked Emma, a little exasperated from the fear he was rushed into when the two girls jumped him. Poppy helped the boy back onto his feet. The four then stepped into the other room and Emma couldn't help but question the two who jumped them.

"What are you guys doing here?" She questioned them. "Yeah, what are you doing here?" Audrey's question wasn't directed at Noah, rather at Poppy. She locked eyes with the girl and Poppy knew Audrey must be mad at her. Poppy frowned at her, the guilt showing in her eyes. "Does that really require an explanation?" Noah asked Emma,"You know I wanna make this guy pay just as much as you do." He reminded her. Emma's eyes softened when she realized he really did care a lot about Riley and she nodded her head at him. "Hey. Don't blame Emma." Audrey defended the girl, even after everything she put her through.

"Blame me." She handed him back his flashlight that she had picked up when Poppy was helping him up. Her eyes then shifted to Poppy, and she frowned back at her. "That goes for you too." She said.

Poppy didn't know which was worse. Audrey blaming her, or not blaming her at all.

She still felt guilty after all. Audrey had admitted how much she cared for her and Poppy only repaid that in going against her back and throwing herself in danger. She looked at her, but Audrey just looked away. "Holy Christmas." Noah took a step forward, sounding more ridiculous then when he had said 'holy moly guacamole' just a few moment earlier. He took a few more steps forwards,"Oh, I knew it." He was giddy as he spoke, a smile on his face as he shone his flashlight around. "Oh, it's a genuine killer's lair." Noah informed the others.

Emma furrowed her brows. "That's a thing?" She asked him. Audrey stepped forward to her,"Oh, please don't get him started." The girl begged, even though it was nice to see her best friend out of the slump had been in this morning. Audrey just wished it didn't come after trying to chase down a real life psychopath.

"A lair is an extension of the killer's psychosis." He began to explain, looking back at the three girls,"The roof cellar in _Psycho_ , Kevin Spacey's apartment in _Se7en_ , Hannibal Lecter's kitchen. I mean, every fiction killer has one!" Noah finished by exclaiming his proclamation. Audrey loved her friend but he really got worked up about this whole stuff. It was almost exhausting, especially since they suffered quite a bit of deaths recently.

"So he's been living here?" Emma questioned as she looked to the mattress on the floor of the room. Noah considered it for a moment as he looked around, but then he shook his head a little. "I highly doubt it." The boy answered. Everything about this looked staged, especially the headless dead pig that was placed exactly in the center on the room with all the x-rays around it. "No... this looks staged." He told them.

Poppy furrowed her brows as she shone the light on her phone around. "Why would anyone stage this?" She asked. Noah looked over at her,"I mean, you see lairs on TV, not in real life." He reminded her,"Take _Pretty Little Liars_. They're always chock-full of bloody clues and creepy, unrealistic icons. I mean, seriously, how would A get her hands on four Victorian dolls that look just like the main characters?" Noah turned the question to the rest of the girls in the room,"Where do you shop for that?" He asked.

Audrey raised a brow,"Evil American Girl doll store?" She suggested. "A dedicated prop department?" Poppy threw one in too even though he had directed the question back to Emma and Audrey. Noah scoffed, deciding to change the subject when he realized he actually liked checking out the creepy lair. The whole experience was probably only good though because there was no killer lurking around, or at least Noah hoped not. "I can't believe you two came here without me and stuck Poppy on babysitting detail." He looked between Emma and Audrey. Emma frowned before she nodded her head,"Yeah, you're right." She said before pointing. "After you."

His eyes went a little wide when he say her gesturing to an opening in the wall large enough for a person to crawl through that presumably led to another room. Noah saw what she was doing but he couldn't say he didn't ask for it. He nodded his head before taking the lead and going through the crawl space. "I guess I deserve second lead." Poppy said, moving in front of Emma and crawling through. It lead to a long hall, with shelves stacked with useless things that were left behind. The four still remained on edge, holding up whatever light they had on them to investigate what they would find next.

Finally the hall finally came to an end, or at least a presumed end. The path had been formed with the shelves and lead them directly to a table with three items on it. The four paused when they realized what the items were.

Audrey was the first to recognize one of the items, taking a step forward as she directed her camera on it. "This is Rachel's." She zoomed in on the figurine before moving to the next item on the table.

"Nina's necklace." Emma recognized, saying the words Poppy wanted to say. She recognized that necklace. Nina wore it all the time in pictures that were constantly blowing up in her social media.

"This is Riley's keychain." Noah recognized it from once briefly seeing the girl's car keys after she arrived at the shop the other night. "Bastard took souvenirs." Noah bitterly put together as he stared at the items.

"Jesus..." Emma mumbled underneath her breath. Audrey pointed her light up, noticing the pictures hanging from the ceiling. "Emma." She said, getting the girl's attention. All their lights were directed towards the ceiling, noticing the black and white photos of all of the victims of Brandon James. "The missing yearbook pictures." Noah explained before his flashlight caught an image that didn't fit the dated ones. It was Emma's picture.

"It's you." He pointed out the photograph of her. "And you're the star of the show." Audrey realized as she looked at all of them. Poppy frowned as she briefly looked at Emma,"Well... at least we know it's personal." She tried to sound just a little bit optimistic, because they did figure something out, but it wasn't like it was a good thing. "I think we should go." Audrey suggested, her voice a little worried now.

Noah nodded his head in agreement,"Yeah, the charm is wearing off." He added. Poppy looked towards the items on the table, her eyes falling on Nina's necklace once more. If they were leaving, she didn't know if she wanted to leave that behind. Emma nodded her head at Noah and Audrey, and took a step in the direction to leave, just before her eyes caught something on the shelf. She rushed forward, making Audrey furrow her brows in confusion. "Emma, what are you doing?" She questioned as she looked at the girl. "Oh my God, that's Nina's laptop." Emma told them before looking around.

She found a pair of medical gloves on the shelf next to it and quickly stuffed them onto her hands. "What?" Audrey was confused, wondering why that was here in the first place. Emma picked up the computer,"The police have been looking for this." She set it down on the table next to the shelf, opening it up. "I bet." Audrey frowned as she looked it over.

She turned on the computer and the four of them listened to it as the laptop chimed on. Emma's eyes scanned the screen before she spoke aloud,"Whoa... folders for all of her friends? Maybe photos?" Emma guessed as she clicked on it. She went over the folders and Poppy leaned over. She knew about Nina and the kind of person she was, but despite that Poppy couldn't find her name. Why couldn't she find her name? Nina had done things like that to her before.

"Was she friends with the mayor? Principal Showalter?" Noah leaned in to look at the contents. "The sheriff." Audrey noticed the man's name for one of the folders. Emma furrowed her brows as she stared at the folders. "Nina, what the hell were you doing?" She asked as she went to open one of the files, mostly the one with her name on it. Emma clicked on it, but it required a password that she didn't have.

"They're encrypted. I could get 'em open, but I'd need some time." Noah mentioned to the girls. Audrey nodded and reached for the laptop,"I got it." She began but Emma stopped her before she could touch it. "Wait, hold on." Emma urged the two of them. Audrey frowned as her friend stopped her,"Emma, we gotta take this." She insisted. "This is evidence. We should let the police deal with this." Emma argued.

"Because they handled the Riley situation so well." Noah commented from behind her, his voice still bitter like it had been a few moments ago. Poppy reached over to put her hand on his shoulder, meeting his eyes and silently sending him a look that it was not the time to argue about the failure of Lakewood's police department.

Audrey wasn't too happy with the police either, but this was a different situation. Some of the folders on Nina's laptop included one of her friends and Audrey knew what the girl was like when she was alive. Whatever Nina stored in that file wouldn't be any good for Emma. "Emma, there's a file with your name on it. Aren't you the least bit curious?" Audrey asked, trying to convince her too along with Noah.

Emma frowned at the pressuring of the two of them. "I just feel like this is all a test and when I fail, people die." She sounded hurt, and scared. Audrey empathized but she knew they were still trying to catch a killer and whatever was on that laptop could help them. "You didn't come here to do nothing." Audrey reminded her.

Noise came from not too far away when all four of them heard metal clattering. Poppy jumped a little since the moment was intense and not to mention they were all in a creepy abandoned hospital where they knew the killer had been to. "Hey, guys, someone's coming." Noah pointed out the obvious. He took a few steps away from the group to see if he could see anything, and Poppy followed only a step behind him.

"Wait, does your camera have an SD card?" Emma suddenly thought, looking to Audrey. The girl nodded her head back at her, moving to take it out. "Yeah, hang on." She told Emma. Audrey slipped it out and passed it to her friend who put it right into the laptop. "Okay. Come on. Go in." She urged before it finally clicked into place. "Okay." She whispered as she began transferring the files.

"Come on, Emma, hurry up." Noah said, returning back into the small space with Poppy. He sounded urgent, mostly due to the fact he couldn't find anything or anyone while looking for the source of the noise and that could be dangerous if the killer really was in the building. "How much longer?" Audrey asked. "Ten seconds." Emma read out the time on the screen. She hoped that the laptop wouldn't fail on her now when they had someone approaching not too far away. A noise came again and Audrey looked at Emma desperately,"We don't have ten seconds." Audrey urged.

"I know. I know. I know." Emma repeated quietly as she could only watch as the data was transferred on the screen. Another noise came which perked up Noah's attention as he looked back towards where he presumed the sound came from. "Uh, perimeter alert. Guys." He looked back urgently. "Emma, please hurry up." Poppy added onto the urging.

Emma felt like a sitting duck with them urging her while she could do nothing but watch the screen load. "It's almost there. Five seconds." She tried to buy herself the time she needed to get the data out. "Hey, seriously, guys, we gotta go." He said just as they all heard doors opening. "Guys, we gotta go. Are we done?" Noah asked just as the doors closed behind the person. Audrey moved up behind Emma,"Com on. Let's go. Hurry up." She urged again. "Emma, we gotta go!" Noah exclaimed.

The girl couldn't handle all that yelling and nodded her head as she began typing on the laptop. "Okay, alright. We're done." She agreed with them so they would get off her back. "We got it, we got it, we got it. Okay, okay. Let's go, let's go." She rushed out, repeating words as she spoke so fast. Emma handed off the SD card back to Audrey and then shut the laptop, putting it back onto the shelf where she found it. The four of them made their way back to where they entered from, before Emma stopped all of them again as she noticed someone with her eyes.

"Wait– guys, what's that?" Emma pointed to the mask that was on the top shelf. Noah followed her eyes to notice what her eyes had caught onto,"Oh, it's Brandon's mask." He almost sounded excited, and almost wanted to reach up and touch it. Audrey looked at the two, finding it unbelievable that they were forgetting they had company,"Leave it. We gotta go!" She yelled. "There might be DNA on it!" Emma fought, reaching up her hand and grabbing the mask. As she took it down, she knocked over something too.

A decapitated head fell onto the ground in front of them, making all four of them _scream_ in terror.


	7. Gift

**A/N: I will put a trigger warning for this chapter. This chapter includes characters discussing emotional and physical abuse.**

* * *

All four of them took off running from the decaying head on the floor. "Oh my God." Emma breathed out, trying to catch her breath as she fell completely into shock over what just happened. "Oh, man, that is wrong!" Noah screamed as they rushed back the way they came. It didn't take too long for them to work their way back as they all ran for their lives. Everyone was panting and fumbling to get away. "That is Tyler's head!" Emma pointed out. They had screamed so loud when they saw it, but Emma was able to recognize the face despite the fact it looked so different from when the boy was alive. "There is no way he killed anybody." Audrey added as she dashed ahead. In the haste of the moment, she latched onto Poppy's hand while the redhead was running in front of her.

Poppy was too scared to notice at first. "The killer must've killed him." She addressed Audrey, looking to the girl and finally noticing that Audrey had taken her hand. Before the moment could even happen, Emma interrupted them. "Come on, he's coming!" She reminded all of them that despite the scare that they still had someone else in the building who could find them. Especially after they made that scream. "Crap, we gotta go!" Noah exclaimed.

They bursted through the doors they came through, all panting heavily as they tried to navigate around. Flashlights were on again as they raced through the hospital away from the danger. Audrey didn't let go of Poppy's hand as the four of them made their escape. "Back exit!" Audrey yelled as they turned down the hall. It turned to be a dead end and Emma scrambled to remember where they came in through. "This way!" Poppy called as she turned the corner to get them away from the dead end. All four of them rushed down the hall just to come to an abrupt stop and screaming at the sight of the man before them.

Clark Hudson sighed as he stared the teenagers down. The sheriff was clearly disappointed in the frightened individuals. "You four with me. _Now_." He ordered.

* * *

It wasn't long before the four teenagers found themselves in the police station. They all sat on the couch in the sheriff's office, getting looked down from two disapproving adults. Maggie stared at her daughter,"What were you thinking?" The woman demanded to know of her. It wasn't like Emma to break into abandoned buildings and compromising crime scenes. Not only was it foolish but it was a reckless thing to do based on what the police had found in that hospital. "Yeah, what were you thinking?" Clark asked, addressing all of the group. "Every piece of evidence in that hospital is potentially inadmissible because of you!" He pointed at the four of them.

Emma sat up a bit and looked to the sheriff,"How did you know we were there?" She questioned the man. "Anonymous tip." Clark commented as he looked at her. Emma furrowed her brows before looking to the people besides her. She wondered if someone saw her and Audrey sneaking in or Noah and Poppy sneaking in. "Someone saw you guys breaking in. We swept that place a week ago looking for Tyler. There was nothing." The sheriff explained to them. None of them said anything as Clark stared at them. "So why were you there?" He requested to know, looking to any of the four for an explanation. Emma sat back before looking again to the other three before she realized that she had to admit she got them all into this mess.

"A package came to the house." She admitted, looking to her mother. "The 1994 Lancers yearbook. He cut out people's faces, he wrote things." Emma finished as her mother settled into the reality of the situation. "Oh my God, Emma." Maggie realized the harassment hadn't stopped and she felt horrible for thinking briefly that it could because they were convinced they had their guy. "Why didn't you come straight here?" The sheriff asked her.

Emma glared over at him,"Because the last time I came here, it didn't really end that well." She snapped at him. The feeling was mutual between the other teenagers. Audrey was still mad at how the sheriff was handling Rachel's murder. Noah and Poppy were still mad over how Riley died at the station and they were helpless to watch it over video chat.

Maggie frowned at her daughter, pushing herself off Clark's desk to look at Emma. "Hey, that's not fair." She told her gently as she crouched down in front of her. Emma didn't want to argue with her mother but the woman hadn't been very honest with her as of late. "Mom, none of this is fair." Emma reminded the woman. "Why didn't you tell me about this?" Maggie asked instead, getting to what her real problem was. The woman didn't like the world where her daughter didn't trust her enough to tell her things. "To try and stop more people from dying." Emma defended her actions about lying to her mother. Her focus changed back to the sheriff,"I said I didn't think it was Tyler." Emma jogged the man's memory,"No one believed me."

"But you believe us now, right?" Audrey cut in, looking up at the sheriff. "Well, considering his head is in that hospital and his body is in the car... yeah." The man was reluctant to admit that he was wrong, only because it meant that the killer was still out there somewhere. He couldn't have another death on his hands. Not to mention no other kid deserved to die. "Glad we cleared that up." Noah mumbled before moving to stand up. Clark stopped him immediately,"Sit down. Don't move. I'm gonna need your camera, Audrey." He ordered, still clearly angry with the teenagers. Audrey rolled her eyes before handing over her camera to the sheriff.

"Now all of you get out of here. Go home." The sheriff told them before pausing for a brief second. "Do me a favor. Any further contact, you call me immediately." Clark mentioned to them, knowing that it'd be easier to stop the killer if they just came forward with information. It would certainly put them out of harm's way too. "Let's go." Maggie told her daughter and Emma stood up, looking back to the three before following her mother of the the sheriff's office. Audrey, Noah, and Poppy stood up from the couch. "Get out of here." He told Audrey and Noah, making the two furrow their brows when the man looked to Poppy.

Audrey took a step in front of the girl, glaring at the man. "Why are you holding Poppy behind?" She demanded to know, realizing the man was dismissing her and Noah but not Poppy. Clark didn't decide to answer, and just gave Audrey a stern look to her to back off. Poppy frowned and placed her hand on Audrey's shoulder.

When Audrey looked back at her, she was confused because she realized that Poppy was looking at her in the exact same way the sheriff was looking at her. "What are you doing?" Audrey questioned her. "This is about Poppy's record, isn't it?" Before Poppy could get the chance to answer for herself, Noah cut in and revealed something he knew he shouldn't have. The boy only realized too late that he made a mistake.

" _Record_?" Audrey asked the boy. Her eyes then shifted to the sheriff who looked like he understood what Noah was talking about. Finally her eyes went back to Poppy and Audrey pieced together what had been revealed. "Criminal record. You're a criminal?" It was a rhetorical question. Audrey didn't look one bit like she wanted Poppy to answer. The redhead could only hang her head in shame over the tone Audrey used. Not too long ago Audrey had grabbed her hand while they were fleeing from danger, but now Audrey was taking a step away from Poppy and her touch.

"It's not like that, Audrey." Noah tried to defend his friend, especially since he revealed her secret. While he knew the sheriff was aware of that, he had no right to say anything in front of Audrey. Especially when his plan in the first place was to wait to see if Poppy told him and Audrey the truth herself. Now he didn't even give her the chance to come clean herself. "Then what is it like Noah?" Audrey inquired as she looked to the boy.

He didn't say anything at first, knowing that he didn't know the full story himself. The sheriff looked at Audrey before letting out a small sigh. "Poppy was arrested. I'm not at liberty to discuss such matters with her friends. If she wants to tell you guys the whole story, it's up to her. But for now, please go home and leave Poppy to me." Clark reasoned with the teenagers. Noah found it acceptable, only because Poppy didn't seem too worried about the sheriff questioning her about anything. Audrey didn't even look at Poppy. The two teenagers nodded their heads slowly before moving to towards the door. Poppy went to stop Audrey by grabbing onto her shoulder but Audrey just pushed past her hand. It was a brush off that hurt Poppy. She only wanted a chance to explain to Audrey about what happened to avoid the girl from jumping to any conclusions but it seemed Audrey already came to them.

"Audrey." Noah said, catching onto the girl's anger. Audrey didn't meet his eyes but he could tell that his best friend was glaring. "No comments, Foster." Audrey warned him as she stormed out of the sheriff's office. He knew he had to follow but Noah looked back at Poppy, meeting the redhead's eyes before disappearing after Audrey.

The sheriff studied the girl before letting out a sigh. He moved back over to his desk before he gestured to one of the chairs in front of it. Clark sat down just as Poppy pushed the chair forward closer to the desk, and she sat down too. "You know... you don't have to lie to your friends. If they're really your friends, they'll understand." He was trying to help a little, but Poppy clearly didn't want it. "No one understands. They'll just look at me for the things I've done and nothing more." Poppy justified her lying. Clark empathized with her. He was too a man who was trying to make up for his mistakes, especially in his past. He spent a lot of time wasted hooked on the wrong kind of things instead of actually doing his job.

"Look," Clark began, trying to get to the point he wanted to make with her. "In your statements, you all said that the killer took souvenirs but when we went over the place... and one was missing." He got to the point and recognized the guilt in Poppy's eyes immediately. "I know you have Nina's necklace. We could've dusted it for fingerprints but you compromised the evidence the moment you touched it." Clark mentioned. The girl didn't look too guilty when he mentioned the fingerprints,"The killer wouldn't be that stupid as to leave his fingerprints." She may have had a point but Clark wasn't going to let her think that what she did was okay.

Clark leaned forward, placing his arms down on the desk. "Do you know how serial killers are caught, Poppy?" The man posed the question to her. "They make mistakes." He answered. "Serial killers are human, which means they'll make an error at one point that's not part of the plan. Maybe taking Nina's necklace made you think that it wouldn't be a big deal, but it was. Hopefully, that will be the reminder you have when you look at it." It was a tough blow for Poppy, but the girl couldn't even fight back and say he was wrong.

Because he wasn't.

* * *

Poppy threw the necklace at the bed as soon as she opened the door to the room. Craig was at work, and left Tracy at home. When Poppy managed on the bus on her way back from the police station, the girl entered the house calling for her aunt but was only met by a chatty little dog.

The girl then found her aunt passed out on the couch with an empty wine glass. The wine bottle was sitting on the coffee table and was nearly empty. Poppy frowned at the sight but reached over for the blanket and draped it over her slumbering aunt. After that, she went to Nina's room.

Nina's room had remained mostly closed due to the fact the girl was murdered. Barely anything was touched, expect for a few framed photos of Nina that Poppy knew her aunt had taken out of the room to look at when she was upset. Poppy watched as Nina's necklace bounced on the mattress before settling on the deceased's bed. The redhead frowned as she looked over the bedroom, feeling disgust. She didn't know if she was mad with herself for taking the necklace in the first place, or if part of her was still angry at Nina for all the things the girl did to her when she was alive.

Suddenly Poppy's cellphone rang, alerting the girl. She took it out, seeing an 'unknown caller' pop up on her screen. The girl didn't see any harm in answering and clicked on the accept button on her phone. " _Hello_." The male voice came instantly when Poppy held her cellphone to her ear. She was confused at first, not recognizing the voice at all.

"Hello?" She said, a little nervous to why someone she didn't know would call her. Maybe the guy got the wrong number or something. " _It's so nice to finally talk to you._ " He replied. "I think you have the wrong number–" " _I don't have the wrong number._ " The man sounded so sure in his words that it made Poppy more nervous. She grew confused as she began to pace around Nina's room. "Who is this? Is this some sort of prank call? Is that you, Noah?" The girl rushed out possibilities to justify who was on the other line. It didn't even occur to her in the moment who could be doing this.

" _How'd you guess?_ "

After that response, Poppy let out a relieved chuckle. Who she presumed was Noah was still masking his voice, because Poppy knew the boy well enough to know he didn't sound like that one bit. She didn't even think that he could imitate it. "Only you'd have the sense of humor to prank call me like this." Poppy rolled her eyes. She heard a small chuckle over the phone, still in the same voice. " _What can I say?_ " He said simply. "Well, knock it off. Lose the voice changing app."The girl urged, mostly because it was starting to get on her nerves. If Noah had already came out that it was him, why still mask his voice?

Unless, of course, it wasn't actually Noah.

" _I'm sorry. I don't think I can do that right now._ " The charm soon wore off Poppy once the thought came into her head and the reply only deepened her opinion that this might not be Noah. "Come on, Noah, you're starting to freak me out." She urged again and hoped that if it really was the boy that he would have the decency to stop.

" _You look freaked._ " She froze completely when the man responded to her. Poppy whipped her to look outside Nina's room. Through the glass she could see the pool. She remembered that's where they found Nina's body. "You can see me right now." Poppy realized as she searched the backyard to see if she could see anyone at all hiding.

When she realized she couldn't, Poppy looked down to the locks on the glass doors that lead from Nina's room to outside. Luckily they were already locked. She heard the man chuckle over the phone and it sent shivers down her spine. " _Wow, beauty and brains._ " He complimented her but it only infuriated Poppy.

"You psychopath–" " _Ah, ah, ah. Are you really going to call me the psychopath here?_ " Poppy sick to her stomach when he cut her off. She knew who she was talking to now. She knew this person on the other line must be the killer. "I don't know what you're talking about." Poppy attempted to shoot him down, knowing that she couldn't let herself be trapped by a serial killer's mind games.

" _Yes, you do._ " The voice fought back and grew angry with her. " _Why does a pretty girl like you lie? That's what everybody's dying to know around here, right, Poppy?_ " He used her name, which tugged on a chord in Poppy. This person killed Nina and now he had the gall to toy with her. She moved her thumb to hang up just when he caught her attention again. " _Hanging up on me so soon?_ _I just wanted to call to see how you liked my gift._ " Her ears caught onto his words and she paused before hanging up. Poppy brought the phone back closer to her ear. "What gift?" She was a little worried when he asked her that, thinking that whatever gift he had in store might not be one she wanted to see.

" _The necklace. I got it just for you._ " His answer made her skin crawl. Poppy's eyes flew frantically around the outside to see if she could spot the culprit this time around but she still had no luck. Wherever he was watching her from, he picked a good hiding space. "You killed Nina!" Now she was getting upset, resorting to yelling.

" _Did I? Or did you?_ " Poppy was speechless for a moment. The feeling of being trapped inside this killer's mind game finally got to her. Before she could ever reply, her phone chimed. She went to check out why her phone dinged and realized why when she saw the video file. Poppy didn't open it right away but clicked on it after a moment. The sight of Will and Emma for only a second was enough for her to take it down. She looked at the screen, realizing she was still on the call. Poppy brought her phone back up to her ear.

" _Remember, Poppy, I know how to get your secrets out there. Who do you think people will call the psychopath then?_ "

* * *

Going back to school after everything that happened seemed wrong. Poppy presumed that Audrey was still upset with her. Noah hadn't called her. She definitely didn't think Emma was up to talk to anyone after that video was leaked. Poppy walked through the halls of school, carrying her binder in her arms. Her cellphone rested on top of her binder and she stared down at it. She was too afraid to say anything to anyone. Not even to her family or the sheriff. Even though she knew the murderer had contacted her, Poppy knew better than to temp him by involving the cops. She would just end up getting hurt or he would keep that promise of outing her secrets to the public.

The girl entered the classroom, spotting Noah already in his seat. She made her way over and sat in the seat next to him. He looked over apologetically. Noah was afraid to talk to Poppy after what happened, considering he knew Audrey was ticked off despite the fact that she tried to hide it from him. "Are you mad at me?" He questioned carefully.

Poppy wasn't paying attention, instead she was looking at her phone. She soon realized however that Noah's eyes were on her and she turned her head. "What?" The girl asked, furrowing her brows. Based on the look on his face, Poppy understood what he had asked her even though she had missed it. "I'm not mad, Noah." She told him honestly.

She reminded him of another girl Noah needed to apologize to, and the boy turned around. "Hey, Emma, again I am just so exponentially sorry about that video. I had no idea that it was gonna just mutate and spread like this crazy zombie sex virus." Noah registered that his words choices weren't the best in his apology. "And that came out so horribly–" "It's okay, Noah." Emma quickly forgave him. "I mean, it's not okay but... you couldn't have known what was going to happen." She assured him.

Poppy looked back, staring at Emma. She wondered if she should mention the phone call to her but she knew that it would only bring up questions that Poppy didn't want to answer.

"Okay, everybody." Mr. Branson addressed the class, standing up from his chair. He looked around at his students knowing the tragedies that have occurred. "We are still reeling from Riley's death, but we do have learning to do." The man reminded them. "Noah, I know you two were scene partners." Mr. Branson said, looking to the boy in the front row. Noah nodded his head a little, knowing he wasn't really feeling up to the assignment after Riley's death. "Uh, yeah, I think I'm just gonna sit this one out if that's okay." He requested. The teacher nodded his head,"I understand. That's fine." Mr. Branson accepted the boy's request, looking to the rest of his students.

"But we will resume our scene work next week." He informed. "Let's get back to Hawthorne." The teacher said as he moved behind his desk over to the blackboard, picking up a piece of chalk to write. " _The Scarlet Letter._ " Mr. Branson read his words out loud as he wrote it down on the blackboard. "It's a classic tale of hypocrisy, misogyny, and female oppression." His lesson was cut off when Jake raised his hand to interrupt him. "Mr. Branson, seriously, with all the cyber-bullying and GIFs and mayhem going down– _who cares_?" Jake asked. "Actually, Jake, it's very relevant." Mr. Branson continued talking despite a phone chiming during the lesson. He wasn't about to be interrupted again.

Emma looked down at her phone and frowned at the social media content making fun of her first time with Will. She couldn't even pay attention to the lesson as she stared at it. "See, the birth of Hester Prynne's illegitimate child led to her being essentially outed and cyber-bullied. Puritan style." He finished despite more phones chiming around the class. Poppy looked down at her phone to realize even she was getting the little edit that was going around. "it just takes nine months instead of nine seconds." Kieran spoke up from the back.

Mr. Branson nodded his head,"Exactly." A student sat up from his seat, leaning over to Will, who was sitting in near him. "Or, uh, three minutes, right?" The boy teased as he waved the edit in front of Will. It was a mistake to taunt, because Will lost his temper and slammed his fists on the table. "Shut the hell up!" Will got up as the boy dismissed himself back into his seat. "Will, stop!" Emma called from her seat, looking to him with a disappointed look in her eyes. "It's enough!" She got up from her seat to stop him. "Will, back off." Mr. Branson joined in on talking the boy down. "Sit down!"

With that, Will reluctantly lowered himself back down into his seat. "Emma, are you okay?" The teacher asked his student as she stood, looking to her classmates. She could only imagine what most of them were thinking. Her eyes shifted over to Mr. Branson. "No. I'm– I'm not okay. Um..." She admitted, looking back around at the class before continuing,"I know that our thoughts are all with the friends that we've lost. And so I just wanted to remind everyone that there's a candlelight vigil downtown tonight at seven. And I hope that all of you will make it." Emma said before taking her seat again.

* * *

The candlelight vigil wasn't exactly the place she wanted to be. Poppy only came because Craig insisted that she'd come to support her aunt and him, despite the fact that no one in the town really knew of Poppy's relation. Craig compromised and decided to respect her choice not to share or speak at the vigil, though he still felt like Poppy should say something.

"Is there nothing you want to say? Nothing at all?" Craig asked as Poppy emerged from the backseat of the car. The girl shook her head a little, before she took off the beanie she had worn to school. It didn't seem right to wear a hat at the moment.

She looked over at the man before shrugging her shoulders. "It won't make a difference." Poppy commented. "Anything that I need to say about Nina... I need to say to her. And I can't know." She frowned at the thought and Craig gently placed his hand on her shoulder. Poppy was thankful for a moment before she brushed him off. "I shouldn't be seen with the parents of the deceased if I want to maintain my low profile. Text me before you guys leave?" She said to Craig, looking over to her aunt as she joined them. Craig nodded his head at Poppy and the teenager took it as her clue to part from the two.

Poppy walked amongst the crowd, hearing people chatter about the lost teenagers. She couldn't even muster up the courage to take a look at the tributes dedicated to Nina, or Riley. The girl never knew Tyler, but Nina was family. And Riley was really nice to her, and Poppy had to watch her die.

Her eyes caught the sight of Noah and Audrey. He had his arm wrapped around her and she had her head tucked onto his shoulder. No doubt she was thinking about Rachel.

Despite everything that happened, Poppy decided to take the leap and walk over there. She nervously stuffed her hands into her pockets. Noah looked up, being the first one to notice her. While he smiled at Poppy, Audrey had a glare on her face. Poppy opened her mouth to get a word out but Audrey let go of Noah and walked away before the redhead could speak. She frowned as Audrey took off, meeting Noah's eyes before turning on her heel after the girl. "Audrey!" Poppy called as she wormed her way through the crowd to catch up to the girl.

Audrey got away from the crowd, not looking back to Poppy. Talking to her was the last thing she wanted to do at a vigil that didn't even acknowledge the fact that Rachel was murdered too just because the sheriff was dumb enough not to launch an official investigation. Audrey didn't stop until the redhead took a hold of her wrist and stopped her from taking another step. "What?!" Audrey snapped as she whipped her head around. She ripped away from Poppy's grip and glared at the girl. "I have _nothing_ to say to you." Audrey's words were sharp and Poppy couldn't blame her for her anger.

"I know you're angry–" "I'm not angry, Poppy." Audrey stopped her before she could make her case, seeing now she had to clarify some things. "I'm hurt." She corrected her, meeting her eyes this time without a glare. Poppy frowned when she realized that Audrey was telling the truth. She wasn't angry. She was hurt. "I told you that I would protect you. Over someone who I've known forever. And you knew that I would do it despite the fact that I didn't know you. Get it, Poppy? I don't know you! You tell me things but that's all. It's never the whole truth with you, is it? I– I just can't figure you out. You're nice. We get along great. But a criminal record? What could've you done that makes you think that you can't tell me and Noah?" Audrey questioned, looking at the girl. Poppy knew she expected at least some answers from her but they were hard to get out.

She took a deep breath before beginning,"I– I did something horrible, Audrey. When I was in foster care... after Julie and I were separated, I was put into some bad homes. My foster parents with Julie were good to us. They really cared and made sure we always got a good education and were well fed. I thought that maybe no other foster parent was going to be as good as they were, but they couldn't be that bad. I was wrong. I had a foster father who was _really_ bad. He– he did things to me and I tried to tell my social worker but he just twisted my words and made me feel really trapped and helpless. I was hurt so I hurt him back. I was charged with assault. He wanted to get me on attempted murder, actually. But the charges were dropped when the judge ruled it self defense after I presented my case." Poppy explained.

"It wasn't though, was it?" Audrey caught onto the look in Poppy's eyes. The redhead looked ashamed and guilty. Poppy's eyes filled with tears as she shrugged her shoulders a little. "I still can't tell. I was terrified of him. Maybe it really was self defense but all I can remember is wanting to hurt him and then doing it. I wanted to say something to you and Noah– because you guys have been really good friends with me but– I just– the only real person to ever really know everything about me was Julie and she was taken away from me and then everything got so horrible and I just couldn't talk about any of it with you guys–" Poppy was cut off when she broke down into tears. She wanted to let it all out but her emotions got the best of her when all she could do was think about the things she had done.

Audrey pulled her into a hug without another word, tightly wrapping her arms around her as the redhead buried her face into her neck. She could feel Poppy's tears against her t-shirt and skin, but she didn't mind. "I'm sorry." Audrey whispered into Poppy's ear as she sobbed against her shoulder. "I'm sorry for not believing in you."


	8. Sounds Good

The truth sets you free? Well, not quite. There was still a great deal Poppy felt the need to hide from Audrey, but she was convinced she was right to keep this secret. To find out that your new best friend is related to a girl who tormented you wasn't the best news in the world. At least Audrey didn't run away when she came clean about the criminal record. There was hope that the rest of the truth wouldn't go so badly if Poppy ever got the courage to tell her.

Poppy sat on the couch, next to Noah who was typing away on his laptop. When she questioned him about it, the boy dismissed her that he was doing some vigilante-type hacking skills that he couldn't elaborate on if he wanted to get it done fast. She accepted the answer and proceeded to work on her coffee.

Audrey plopped down on the sofa, wiggling her head into Poppy's lap. The dark haired beauty smiled up at Poppy, making her feel all tingly aside. If Noah wasn't too occupied in what he was doing, he'd probably point out how obvious the two girls were both being.

"Superman wears a mock turtleneck now." Audrey announced, inspecting the Superman comic in her hands. "I'm wearing a mock turtleneck." Poppy pointed out, looking down at the shirt she was wearing. "You're not the Man of Steel though." Audrey said. "Ugh! Don't ever get me started. I mean, if they ever put the Hulk in bike shorts, I'm officially done." Noah whined, clearly offended by the injustice done to the hero but he was so close to finishing what he had been working on for the past hour. "Oh but they're so stretchy." Audrey joked. "Not to mention what they'd do for his figure." Poppy smirked, adding on.

"Hush." Noah was quick to shut the two girls up, before looking at Poppy. "Hey, take out your phone." He instructed, and the redhead followed in suit. She brought out her phone, awaiting further instructions. "Now download the language arts homework from the school server." He told her. Poppy furrowed her brows,"Why?" The girl inquired. "Please trust me." Noah begged.

She rolled her eyes a little," 'Course I trust you, Noah." She mumbled, beginning on the task he asked of her. Poppy downloaded the homework before looking back over at the boy. "Done." Poppy announced. A stream from Poppy's phone camera came onto Noah's laptop, nearly making Poppy spill the coffee that was in her other hand. "What the what?" Audrey rushed to sit up. "You're the NSA."

Noah shrugged a little before turning to the girls to explain what he was doing. "That video of Emma looked like it was from a webcam, so I _Tron_ -ed my way into the root directory and I found some pretty nasty malware. Lets you access webcams, security systems, phones." He explained to them. "And it's all attached to our language arts homework?" Audrey asked. Noah didn't say anything, but the gravity of the situation was falling onto the three.

"Shit." Poppy mumbled, speaking for pretty much all of them. "Mr. Branson?" Audrey then questioned, jumping to the most obvious suspect in this case. "The only teacher who still lets me talk in class." Noah seemed super disappointed, mostly because he kind of liked Branson's classes. "It can't be him though... right?" Poppy asked. Mr. Branson seemed a little off, as it some prolonged glances at his young female students, but she didn't think that he was a murderer. Even if he could kill someone, that isn't the only ingredient to a killer like they were dealing with. This killer had to be some psychopathic genius. And Mr. Branson was smart, but not that smart or ruthless.

Audrey frowned,"So Branson hacked people's webcams and Nina kept the files?" She made the assumption, hoping the other two would either knock it or build on the theory. "I'm hoping he's just Nina's innocent pawn." Noah said, trying to be a little optimistic. "Sounds like Nina." Poppy commented, knowing it was in Nina's range to blackmail or use someone like that. Both Noah and Audrey turned their heads to look at Poppy. "I mean... based on what I've heard." The redhead weakly recovered, but it seemed convincing enough for her friends. Audrey shook her head. "I sense an unholy alliance." She argued. Neither of them knew what to think of for sure, but all three of them did know that Mr. Branson wasn't someone who could be trusted right now.

* * *

Poppy let out a soft breath as she pulled her hair into a ponytail. Initially, she didn't want to do this. Mostly because, she could handle herself in a fight. Audrey could handle herself too, but Noah begged the both of them to join him when they heard a self-defense class was being offered to the students. Not only did Noah want to learn how a skinny shrimp like him might defend himself, but this was an opportunity to maybe check out Branson during after school hours. The three agreed to check his classroom after this.

The girls' locker room was filled with its usual chatter, but Emma wasn't talking today. She didn't want to after what she found about Will and ignored Brooke every time she looked her way. She had finished changing quickly and sat besides Audrey who was lacing up her shoes. Poppy still hadn't put on her gym shirt and stood only in the black sweatpants and her bra. Emma noticed Audrey's movements slowing down, only to release she was watching the redhead.

She couldn't help but smirk at Audrey while Poppy slipped on the white gym shirt, oblivious to Audrey's eyes. Poppy slipped on her gym shoes, lacing them up quickly. Audrey still wasn't done with her shoes, and became stiff when Poppy turned around to look at her. "See you out there?" Poppy said, leaving it as a question due to the fact Audrey was giving her a weird look. Audrey nodded her head a little, watching as the girl exited the locker room.

Emma took the opportunity to let out the light and airy chuckle she had been repressing. "Audrey!" She exclaimed, hitting her friend's arm gently. Audrey blushed and finished tying her shoe laces. "Shut up..." Audrey muttered underneath her breath, trying to hide the embarrassment. Emma smiled as she studied Audrey,"Did something happen between you two? Something's different, I swear." She remarked. Audrey shrugged her shoulders a little.

There was definitely was something different. Audrey then realized it was because she _liked_ Poppy. It had always been there, probably since the first moment they met. Audrey didn't want to admit it though because Poppy was a girl she hardly knew. But now that she felt that she knew the girl better, she had to admit there was a growing affection.

"Nothing happened." Audrey answered, scratching the back of her neck. Emma nodded her head, but raised her brows,"You want something to happen though... don't you?" Emma asked. Audrey nodded her head. Seeing Poppy shirtless, wearing only a black lace bra, sparked up her teenage hormones. There was definitely a strong urge to make things heat up as quick as she could, but Audrey knew that if she really liked Poppy she had to wait. She couldn't just go and start something yet.

Instead of replying to that, Audrey just got up and headed out of the locker room. Emma respected the fact her friend didn't want to elaborate on it, so she just followed her out with the rest of the girls who wanted to take the class.

The self-defense class wasn't hard. They went over basic scenarios and the best options to defend yourself. Poppy and Noah stuck together every time the teacher said to pair up. They left Audrey alone, must to her dismay, so she just paired up with Emma. Noah was lucky that Poppy went easy on him because she had a hunch that Audrey might hurt the boy just a little just for the giggles.

After almost an hour of going over stuff, the teacher stopped them. He clapped his hands, gaining the room's attention. "All right, now let's put what we've learned to the test." He announced, making the students move forward to the mat where most of the demonstrations took place. They had only been going over the movements slowly prior to this, not getting to the point of actually taking someone down yet.

"But remember, self-defense is not about how strong we are. It's about how well we use the strength we have inside." The teacher sounded encouraging, and his eyes settled on one of the tallest students in the gym. "Will, come on up." He instructed. Will moved forward onto the mat, jumping a little to keep his reflexes alert. "And... Audrey." The teacher announced.

Noah and Poppy shared a look, knowing how strong the girl was. It wasn't like she bragged about it or anything. Noah filled Poppy in on it just so she wouldn't be surprised to see a girl so short was that was so strong.

"Same scenario. Dark lot, guy's larger and stronger." The teacher described as Will begin to put his arm around Audrey to start the attack. "Now what you wanna do is–" The teacher was cut off by Audrey flipping Will over and slamming him onto the ground. She pinned his arm behind his back,"How's it feel to take it in front of everyone?" She asked angrily, knowing this was payback for what he did to Emma.

He moved back off the mat, as did Audrey, with Noah slow clapping in the background with the biggest smile on his face. Just to indulge the boy, Poppy joined in and broke the stoic look that Audrey had been maintaining on her face. She smiled slightly, looking over at Poppy.

"Okay... maybe that's enough for today. Thank you all for coming." The teacher said, not wanting to risk any other teenager who wanted an excuse to beat someone up to get onto the mat. The students were dismissed, and Noah grouped up with Poppy and Audrey immediately. The three were on a mission and they wouldn't leave the school until it was accomplished.

They made their way down the empty hallways, making their way to the language arts class. Noah walked up to the door first,"Hello? Hello? Mr. Branson?" When there was no sign of the teacher in the classroom, Noah took the lead in. The man's laptop was open on his desk, which meant he was still around in the school.

Noah went to check the door, as Audrey began typing away on the keyboard with Poppy looking over the girl's shoulder. She rested her chin on Audrey's shoulder, as she was accustomed to doing by now. When Noah heard the tapping of the keys, he whipped his head around. "Audrey, you can't just invade a man's laptop." He scolded his best friend.

"Oh, please. He's invading everybody's everything." Audrey argued back. "Okay, fine. Well, let me do it." Noah said. Poppy moved back and went to check the door just in case the teacher decided to come back. Audrey looked at the screen as Noah began to work on it. It went a lot faster with him at the keyboard. "Okay, yeah, here's the malware." He found it in no time, but his eyes were surprised to read something he didn't know on the screen.

"Hold on, there's two other user IDs. Looks like his student aides had access to the site, too." He said out loud, so Poppy wouldn't miss the info him and Audrey were seeing on the screen. "Let me guess. Tyler?" Poppy said, briefly looking back at them. "Yup." Audrey confirmed. "And this semester... Riley." Noah was surprised when he read the girl's name out loud. Poppy frowned, knowing she shouldn't leave her position at the door but after watching the girl die... she couldn't help it.

Audrey was beginning to put some pieces together when Poppy joined them. "Nina, Tyler, and Riley. Maybe they all knew his dirty secret." She suggested. Noah frowned when the theory started to make sense. "What if he killed them all to keep it?" He asked. The only person it didn't make sense to what Poppy, mostly because she was thinking of the phone call she got. There was a chance, but that was only if Nina told him about her. And Nina didn't tell anyone about Poppy.

The sound of a door opening and closing alerted the three of them. Mr. Branson was back. It had to be him, but they were all hoping it wasn't. Noah shut the laptop, only to be smacked sloppily by Audrey. "The laptop was open." She insisted. He rushed to open it and the three of them piled into a line, looking eagerly to Mr. Branson as he walked into the classroom.

"Hey, guys... what's up?" He questioned the students. "I was just trying to convince Noah to pick a new scene partner." Audrey lied. "We came here to see if anybody's available?" Poppy added on, looking to the teacher for an answer. Mr. Branson seemed to be buying it. "Well, everybody's paired up... but I'm sure somebody would be open to a dramatic threesome. Maybe you two?" He looked between Poppy and Audrey. Poppy forced a smile onto her face,"We'll let you know, Mr. B." She said. Noah and Audrey were surprised at how convincing she sounded, not to mention the smile looked pretty real. "Okay." Mr. Branson said, moving past the three to his desk.

Not wanting to spend anymore time there, Noah, Audrey, and Poppy rushed out of the classroom. When the three got down the hall and away from the ears of anyone who might be around, the three of them stopped to discuss their findings. "Something definitely wrong is going on in that classroom." Noah declared. "What should we do? Can we tell anyone?" Poppy asked. Audrey shook her head,"Not yet. We need more dirt on him. Proof that he's connected to the murders." She said.

Noah couldn't help but smile, realizing how they all sounded and how the three of them in a circle facing each other must've looked. "Bi-curious, the Angel and the Virgin for the win?" He looked between the two girls with a smirk on his face. Poppy and Audrey both rolled their eyes, but they did look at him with endearment. Noah put his hand in the middle and Poppy followed. The two looked to Audrey.

"We really going to be those kind of assholes?" She questioned, not liking how cliche it was. Poppy frowned at her,"Put it in, Jensen." Poppy said. Audrey sighed and put her hand on top of Poppy's. The redhead smiled,"To the Magnificent Three?" She said. They then threw up their hands in the air. "To the Magnificent Three!" Poppy and Noah giggled, bright grins on their faces. Audrey refused to join the two geeks in the roll call.

"That was... super stupid. I'm glad no one saw that. I should probably get changed. See you guys tomorrow?" Noah said, looking over at them. The two girls nodded their head, waving goodbye to Noah as he made his way back to the boys' locker room.

Audrey looked over at Poppy,"You going home too?" She asked her. Poppy shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe. I have some homework... but with every that's going on I'm not too eager to do any homework." She admitted. Audrey nodded her head,"Then coffee? The two of us? We can go right now or later if you want." Audrey was hoping the answer wouldn't be no, and waited nervously as Poppy stared at her.

"Like... like a date?" Poppy was afraid to say the word, but she had too. Audrey cleared her throat and shook her head, trying to hide the blush that had crept onto her face. She was never this nervous when it came to Rachel, mostly because they had already kissed by the time they went on their first date. Audrey had just kissed Rachel on a whim and it didn't go as bad as she thought it might. But Audrey didn't know how to do things with Poppy. She had only ever been with Rachel.

And while she was thinking that, Poppy was thinking that she had only ever been with Julie. Feelings had bubbled up between the two girls too. There was no slow build up, and her and Julie never had a formal date.

"Just coffee." Audrey decided on, thinking that it was less pressure to call it that. "Does... does that sound good?" She said, looking back over at Poppy for an answer. Poppy met her eyes and nodded her head. "It sounds good. I can meet you in a hour? I should get cleaned up. I'm pretty sweaty." Poppy smiled weakly, her stomach churning at the thought of what to wear to _just coffee_.

"Okay... sounds good." Audrey smiled back at Poppy.

* * *

Poppy stood waiting by the counter, patiently awaiting her coffee order. Audrey texted her that she was running a little late and to order something without her. The girl was nervous , and while she knew why it certainly didn't help her. Even without the pressure of this being a real date, Poppy still dressed like it was.

She spent quite a bit picking out the perfect dress for this. Something that wasn't too fancy or too casual. Finally, she settled on one of her favorite casual dresses. It was just a solid color, and soft material. Maroon was always her favorite so she found ballet flats and a necklace that matched. She liked to think she looked good, and hoped Audrey would think the same too.

A barista placed a coffee cup on the counter, with Poppy's name scribbled on the side. Poppy smiled at the sight of caffeine, hoping that it would hopefully calm her nerves. She took a sip just as her phone buzzed and Poppy looked down expecting it to be Audrey... only it wasn't.

Her heart stopped cold at the sight of the unknown number. She opened her phone to look at the text and realized it was a picture. Poppy's jaw dropped slightly at the sight of her and Audrey hugging at the vigil. He was there. He had been watching her... like he always had been watching.

"Boo."

Poppy jumped, making her coffee splash a bit on her hair. She quickly closed her phone and turned around to see Audrey had sneaked up behind her. "Audrey!" Poppy tried to sound excite, but her hot coffee had scolded hr hand and she was still worried about the text she got.

Audrey frowned to realize she had frightened Poppy. She leaned over the counter to grab as many napkins as she could before helping Poppy dry off her hand. "I'm sorry. That was a stupid idea." Audrey realized and shook her head. Poppy chuckled a little,"No... no, it's me. I'm just on edge." She admitted.

"Let me guess– with everything that's been going on?" Audrey asked, finishing drying Poppy's hand. She discarded the wet napkins and the two girls moved over to sit down at a table. They sat across from each other and as Poppy took a seat, she shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know... I mean... you lost Rachel, Audrey." She pointed out, trying to steer the topic off of her.

"Yeah, but I know you were with Noah when Riley died. All of this must be affecting you too, right?" Audrey asked carefully. Poppy looked down at her hands and right then her phone buzzed.

'If only she knew.'

Poppy froze, staring at her phone in her hands. She looked up and immediately looked around the coffee shop. There was a possibility that he could be anywhere in this place. Among the young people ordering coffee at the cashier, or the baristas, or maybe that podcaster who always hung out around here.

'Go on, Poppy. Lie to her again.'

"I... my aunt just texted me. I have to go." Poppy rushed out, rushing to stand up. She pushed past the table, leaving Audrey and her coffee behind. "Wait, Poppy!" Audrey called over, trying to stop the redhead before she left but Poppy had already ran out the door.

She felt like she couldn't breath. Almost like she was having a panic attack. Her phone buzzed again but she couldn't bear to look at it. Eventually she found her way to her car and found her way into the driver's seat. Everything was a blur but as soon as she had buckled her seatbelt, she had started to calm down. Poppy took very slow and deep breaths, trying to calm herself.

When the girl turned her head, she noticed a suspicious looking package in her passenger seat. Her heart lurched as soon as her phone rang and she rushed to answer it. She didn't even need to look at it to expect who it might be. "Why the _hell_ are you doing this to me?" Poppy spat out.

He started laughing on the other side of the phone, each chuckle making Poppy sick. " _Oh, Poppy. You don't realize how fun this little game is to me._ " He told her. "I'm not some little game for you to play with." Poppy was angry now, and didn't hesitate to defy him. " _Yes, you are._ " The killer fought back.

Poppy frowned before her eyes returned to the passenger seat to see the package waiting for her there. "What... what's in the package?" She asked carefully, her mind spinning at the thought of what might be in there. " _Something I need for you to pass on._ " He replied casually. Before he could tell her not to open it, the girl rushed forward and open the package. She brought out a file and furrowed her brows at the sight.

She decided to open the file, seeing the words written on the page. "What is this?" She questioned. " _All you need to do if pass this onto Detective Brock._ " He instructed. Poppy frowned when suddenly some words helped her piece this together. "These are the DNA results from the hospital. But... they aren't your own, are they?" She made the guess, only because she knew that there was no way that the killer would put his own DNA in there.

" _They found nothing at that hospital. This is just a witch for them to burn._ " He explained to her. "Who is it?" Poppy looked at the file, wondering whose DNA he could've put in there to make the detective believe the killer was someone else than who it actually was. " _Now, Poppy. I like to think we're friends. You do this for me and I don't tell everybody in Lakewood the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth._ " He threatened, and Poppy knew there was no choice. She reluctantly put the file back in the package. "... What do you what me to do?" She finally said.

" _Switch this file with the real one._ "

"...Okay."

The deal had been made with the devil and there was no turning back. " _See, Poppy? We are friends._ " He chuckled once more and she frowned. "We're not friends, you sick psychopath." Poppy told him fiercely." _But we could be... I've been watching you. For a long time. I remember you seeing you the courtroom in Atlanta. You were such a beautiful liar, convincing everyone that you had no intention of killing your foster father. That you were just 'terrified that he was going to hurt you again'._ " A feeling of dread washing over her when he mentioned what had happened to her. "You... you were there?" She questioned.

" _I'm always here, Poppy. And you can't stop me._ " His words chilled her to the bone, and she cringed at the thought.

* * *

After being texted the full instructions from one certain killer, Poppy made her way to the police station. She had the package tucked underneath her arm and looked around patiently. "I need to see Detective Brock, please." Poppy told one of the police officers, who told her to wait by the desk for them to check if the detective was free. She waited by the desk, staring at the package she had tucked under her arm.

"Hey... it's Poppy, right?" A male voice surprised her, and Poppy turned around only to recognize the boy. It was Kieran. He was new to Lakewood as well, and she just remembered that his father was the sheriff. That must've been why he was at the station. "Yeah. Kieran, right?" She asked. "Right." Kieran nodded his head and looked over at her. "Why are you here?" He asked her, a little curious. She shrugged her shoulders. "I need to see the detective." Poppy shrugged her shoulders, trying to sound casual to avoid suspicion.

Kieran nodded his head,"Ah, Detective Brock. She's the one who took over my dad's case. Now he can't get anywhere near that thing. His office has been taken over by her too." Kieran explained to her. Poppy nodded her head,"Sounds rough." She told him.

The police officer returned back,"She just stepped out for a second but you can wait in her office." He told her. Poppy nodded her head before looking back at Kieran. "I gotta go. But it was nice to meet you." She told the boy politely, and Kieran gave her a short nod before she followed the police officer to the office.

Once the door was closed behind her, instead of sitting down like she was told to do, Poppy rushed to the desk looking for what she needed. The killer had told her the package with the lab results had just arrived in the mail and hadn't been seen by the detective yet. He was right as the package laid on her desk.

She put her own package down she had been carrying, the one with the file he had given her. She switched the labels on the two, making the one she had looking like the one sent by the lab. The door opened just as she sat down in the chair. Lorraine Brock walked in, eying Poppy as she adjusted a package underneath her arm.

"Can I help you?" The detective questioned and Poppy shrugged her shoulders as the woman made her way behind the desk. Lorraine sat down, looking at the package on the desk and began to open it, awaiting Poppy's reply.

"Yeah... I was just wondering if Sheriff Hudson told you about–" "Your relation to Nina?" Lorraine cut her off as she brought the file out, but nodded her head. "Yes, Ms. Blake. I'm quite aware of you and your desire to keep that complicated relationship out of the limelight." The woman commented as she opened the file. While Poppy had just skimmed the first couple of pages, the detective was carefully combing through the whole file.

"And... will it continue to be out of the limelight?" Poppy asked carefully. "Of course, Ms. Blake. Is that all you wanted to talk about?" Lorraine questioned. Poppy nodded her head and stood up. "Thank you for your time." Poppy said curiously and began to leave the office. "Ms. Blake, you're friends with Audrey Jensen... correct?" She asked, making the girl confused. Poppy nodded her head slowly,"Yes... why?" Poppy asked back.

Lorraine shook her head, looking down at the file. "No reason." The detective answered. Poppy nodded her head and exited the office. Lorraine looked back down at the file just as the girl left the office. She was looking at the DNA taken from the kids who were at the hospital and realized the DNA found on the mask matched one of the teenagers.


	9. Guilty

**A/N: Another trigger warning for this chapter. This chapter includes mentions of rape and abuse.**

* * *

The thing about guilt is that for Poppy is that she felt like it was slowly eating away at her from the inside out.

She woke up that morning feeling absolutely rotten to the core, barely able to get out from underneath her covers to get dressed. Ever since she moved into the Patterson household, she had trouble adjusting to their lifestyle. She had never lived in a house that big before and when she was in the foster system, Poppy had grown used to sharing a room.

Now she had a bedroom all to herself with a walk-in closet that resembled most of her bedrooms she had when she was living with her mother.

Poppy frowned a little. She never had to hide who she was before moving to Lakewood. In the foster system, people were aware of her situation. And when her mother was alive, she dealt with all the bad things without question. Now all she could do was lie in hopes of having a better life. But she couldn't ignore the fact she was being exploited by a serial killer.

There had to be something she could do. She couldn't live drowning in the guilt over what that killer made her do. She went through the clothes in her closet, looking for something that reminded her of a time where she wasn't in Murderville. Her eyes caught some paint stained jean shorts and it brought a smile on Poppy's face.

When she came out of her room for breakfast, Poppy sported some clothes that looked more like the version of herself before Lakewood. A loose t-shirt with some sneakers and an army jacket. She wore that gold elephant necklace that her mother bought her when she was five. Her aunt looked up and down while she drank her coffee, already disapproving of Poppy's attire.

"Good morning." Craig said as he walked into the kitchen, straightening his tie for work. It was his first day back since Nina's death. Tracy refused the possibility of going back to work for an entire month. "You going to be okay today?" Poppy asked as she moved to grab the orange juice from the fridge.

Craig nodded his head as he prepared himself a cup of coffee. "As ready as I'll ever be." He replied, knowing that he had no choice but to go back to work with his wife barely leaving the house all day except to drop off and pick up Poppy from school. Tracy looked up from her magazine over to the clock on the wall.

"We're going to be late if we don't leave now." Tracy said as she finished her cup of coffee and set it down in the sink. Poppy hadn't even finished pouring her orange juice yet when her aunt spoke up. "I haven't even eaten breakfast yet." Poppy pointed out, looking at the clock. "School doesn't start for another forty-five minutes." She argued.

Tracy rolled her eyes at her niece's arguing,"We want to beat traffic, don't we?" The woman simply shrugged her shoulders as she picked up the car keys. Poppy frowned,"It's a twenty minute drive." She said, but her aunt just shrugged her shoulders. "Then I guess you can just walk." Tracy commented before exiting the kitchen.

Her jaw dropped as she watched her aunt exit and Poppy looked to Craig in protest. "She can't be serious." Poppy whined but Craig waltzed up to her and handed her a bagel. "You know I'd offer to drive you but I have work to get to. Eat up and take a gulp of orange juice before she yells your name in approximately ten seconds." Craig instructed.

Poppy took him seriously enough to gulp down as much orange juice as she could. And like clockwork, the inevitable "POPPY!" came from the entrance of the house. Poppy put down her glass and looked back at Craig,"You're some sort of psychic." She chuckled, making him smile as she rushed out of the kitchen with a bagel in her hand.

"POPPY ISADORA BLAKE, I AM LEAVING WITHOUT YOU RIGHT NOW!" Tracy yelled as she was pulling out the driveway when Poppy opened the front door. "I'm here!" Poppy called as she raced down and got a hold of the handle on the passenger side before her aunt could take off.

She opened the door and slipped into the car without another word, only speaking again when her seatbelt was buckled. "You know, if you're weren't going to take me to school than what were you going to do? Drive around in circles?" Poppy asked as she turned to look at her aunt. Tracy shrugged her shoulders,"Maybe." The woman replied.

The teenager rolled her eyes at the cold response, looking at her backpack that sat between her legs. Neither of them said much, which made Poppy uncomfortable, especially considering she did want to say something. After all the silence, Poppy couldn't help it much longer from coming out.

"I think I want to tell people."

"Tell people what?" Tracy asked, vaguely looking over at Poppy while she drove towards her school. Poppy pursed her lips together before she decided she had to say this. If she kept letting this killer blackmail her, she could be arrested for being an accessory to murder. "Everything. The truth. About me and Nina." Poppy said.

Her aunt pulled the car to a screeching halt after those words. Tracy turned over to look at Poppy fully before giving her answer.

"No."

After that rejection, Tracy began driving again. Poppy frowned at that dismissal. It was so cold, just like her aunt always was, but the worst part of it that was her aunt didn't even ask for her say in the matter. "I can tell people if I want to tell them." Poppy decided to argue.

"You won't tell them." Tracy pointed out. Poppy couldn't believe the words that were coming out of her aunt. "So you know what I'm going to do now?" Poppy questioned. Tracy chuckled bitterly, nodding her head. "You're not going to tell anyone because if you do, they'll only see you as some sort of freak." Tracy argued.

Poppy scoffed a little and shook her head,"That's you talking. People treated me fine in the foster system and they knew about everything. The good and the bad." Poppy presented the facts, trying to find something that her aunt couldn't argue with. But despite that, Tracy still had her ways.

"Those children were freaks. Their parents were either drunk, drugged up, abusive, or dead. You only related to them because–" "Because my mom was drunk, drugged up, abusive, _and_ she's dead?" Poppy snapped at her aunt, her jaw dropping when her aunt didn't say anything when she questioned it. Tracy just pursed her lips together and kept her eyes on the road. "My mom was _not_ abusive. She had her problems... but..." Poppy argued but found herself trailing off at the end.

She wanted to defend her late mother but she wasn't like her aunt. She couldn't argue with the facts.

Her aunt scoffed and rolled her eyes. " _Not_ abusive?" Tracy's voice became painfully bitter as she mocked Poppy's words. She pulled the car to a halt at the sight of a stop sight before turning over to face her niece. "How many times did she call me? Because she screwed up? All those times I had to drive you to the emergency room because she had hurt you when she was wasted? What about the time when you had a fever and she was too high to notice? What about the time–"

"Why did you leave me with her then?" Poppy finally asked, her eyes burning with tears. She had cut her aunt off, not being able to bear hearing her talk anymore. She turned her head slowly to face Tracy and a tear slipped down her cheek. "I called you. I called you so many times, begging you to take me in and raise me with Nina but you never took me away from her. And when she died– after the funeral... I called you again, and I told you that they were going to put me in foster care but you told me that you could never take me. It wasn't because of Nina, was it? She called me. She tried to convince me it was her because she was uncomfortable... but that was a lie. It was you. It was always you, wasn't it? You hate me. You blame me for something I had no control over. My mom was the one who made that mistake, not me. Stop blaming me for it." Poppy couldn't help the hurt that was rising up in her.

Tracy looked at her, almost apologetically.

The woman had spent a lot of years blaming the young girl for the mistake her sister made. Tracy did believe it was unfair of her but she couldn't find it in her to get past what Poppy's mother put her through. "Poppy, I–" Tracy began, but Poppy shook her head as a few more tears fell from her eyes.

"You don't get it. You could've done something... especially when she died. Instead, you let me go into foster care. I was alone and questioning my sexuality. No one supported me. Then I finally found a girl I loved but I was separated from her because it was inappropriate. And then... you just– let me get moved into a home where I was raped. And you know, I understood why the social worker didn't believe me. But I thought you would. Because I called you and I told you. But... I wasn't your problem. You had Nina to worry about. I want you to know that if you came for me then... I would've forgiven you. For all of it. But you never came. I almost killed a man. I could've gone to jail. Do you really believe I deserve that after everything? Despite everything you resent me for... you have to know that I don't deserve that, right?"

Poppy was suddenly left with silence after her words.

She didn't know what to expect. A simple 'right' back, would've been enough. But nothing ever came from the woman and the silence that was filling the car was far worse.

Poppy couldn't stay in that car. Not like this. She opened the door, grabbing her backpack and exited the car. "Poppy? Poppy, what do you think you're doing? Poppy! Poppy!" Tracy yelled after her niece. But the girl had slammed the door shut. Poppy started walking down the street in the direction of the high school.

* * *

When Poppy arrived at school, she received a surprisingly warm welcome.

Audrey pulled the girl into a hug as soon as she reached her. Poppy let out a little squeak mostly due to the fact Audrey was crushing her slightly. "You know, it hasn't been that long since you last saw me." The redhead breathed out once Audrey had moved away from the embrace. Audrey blushed slightly,"Sorry... I was just worried that when you left the coffee shop so suddenly that you were– mad at me or something." Audrey admitted.

Poppy looked at her gently,"No... never. I could never." She promised.

They were soon joined by Noah. "Hey." He said, looking at the two girls. "Come on, I got some new information." The boy filled them in, walking towards his first class. Audrey and Poppy followed him, eager to hear what he had to say. "I did some digging into 'Mr. Seth Branson'. You know what I found?" He asked.

"Dick pics?" Poppy suggested. "He doesn't exist?" Audrey guessed.

Noah made a weird face at Poppy before looking at Audrey,"No. Come on. It's 2015. I found four guys, none of whom are our Mr. Branson." He revealed. Audrey saw the catch but didn't see how that helped. "That's damning, how?" She asked.

He looked over, noticing Mr. Branson was talking to a couple of students not too far away from them. "This Mr. Branson didn't exist until he moved to Lakewood. You don't change your name unless you've got a secret." Noah said, looking back at them. "Like trolling teens through their webcams to find a victim." Audrey said.

"Exactly. Cops turn themselves inside out searching for logical suspects but we could just be looking at your garden-variety psychopath." He realized. Audrey narrowed her eyes,"Branson as Manson? I don't buy it." She shook her head because she couldn't imagine a teacher like Mr. Branson would be a serial killer.

Poppy studied Mr. Branson, wondering if he was the killer who had been calling her. She couldn't tell for sure but she was with Audrey. It didn't feel like he was the answer they were looking for. "Yeah well... neither did the victims of the BTK Killer 'til they were staring down the business end of a boning knife." Noah argued.

"I thought he was your favorite teacher." Audrey pointed out, crossing her arms. "He is." Noah admitted. "Which is why the possibility is so alarming." He added.

She shook her head, continuing their walking. "Maybe he was being manipulated by another psychopath. Nina" Audrey suggested and Poppy frowned as she followed. Noah thought over his friend's theory. "Nina discovered a secret and blackmailed him into planting the malware." Noah said, realizing it made sense. "Hmm. Then anyone she trolled could have motive." He looked around at his classmates.

"The guys she slept with. The guys she didn't. The girls who envied her... and the ones who despised her." Noah said, looking back at Audrey. "That's a long-ass list." Audrey realized. "So, pretty much everybody's a suspect." Poppy piped in. "Including us." Noah stated, studying both of his companions. "Wait, where are you on that list?" Audrey asked Noah.

"Duh, I'm making the list." Noah's face shifted into a creepy stare. He and Audrey started having a stare off of murderous looks which made Poppy furrow her brows at them. "There's something seriously wrong with you two." She chuckled, looking at the two. Audrey was the first to break after Poppy's words. "Nice resting creep face." She complimented her best friend. "Back at ya." Noah grinned.

Both of them giggled. "Oh, thank you." Audrey told him before the two of them went into their signature handshake. Poppy shook her head at them,"Dorks." She commented, earning a laugh from both Audrey and Noah. The redhead turned, heading towards class and the others followed her.

* * *

"Okay... so... a three-person scene." Noah said, looking at the script. "Wait– why am I a girl in this scene?" He realized, looking at Poppy and Audrey.

The two girls chuckled at him. "Sorry, Noah." Poppy apologized, looking at Audrey. "It was her idea." She pointed her finger. Audrey gasped dramatically in a mocking tone, lowering Poppy's hand. "It was her idea." She giggled at Poppy. Noah rolled his eyes at the two wondering when they were both going to give it up and become a couple already.

"Look, Noah, we're doing _Heathers_. Audrey's already J.D. I'm Veronica and you're... Heather Chandler." Poppy explained to him. He shook his head,"No... no way. Brooke is Heather Chandler. Nina is Heather Chandler. I'm– goddammit. I'm the fat girl, aren't I?" Noah said, looking at the two. Audrey chuckled as Poppy reached over to touch his shoulder. "Her name is Martha Dunnstock." She clarified.

He shook his head once again. "I can't do it. I can't play a mean girl." Noah sighed in defeat. "Come on, Noah. Just say 'corn nuts'." Audrey made fun of him but he was clearly not amused by it. "It's a good scene, Noah. Give it a try. Read the lines." Poppy suggested, hoping he would take the bait.

Noah reluctantly nodded,"Fine." He said, swallowing a lump in his throat. The boy opened up his mouth to start the scene just as the door of the classroom opened. Cops were led into the classroom by one of the school office's secretaries. "Mr. Branson?" A cop said, approaching the teacher. "Can I help you?" Mr. Branson asked him.

"Yes, sir, you can. We have some questions for one of your students. Audrey Jensen?" The cop said, looking around the room. "We're going to need you to come with us." He finished. Audrey looked at Noah, who seemed to be in shock. Students started murmuring as the girl collected her things.

Audrey took her bag and followed the cops out of the classroom. Poppy couldn't help but think _this couldn't be happening_.

* * *

Suddenly, it made sense. Poppy didn't understand it before but now she knew what she really did switching those files at the police station. Noah dragged her out of the classroom as soon as class ended. They two met up with Emma immediately. Emma suggested they go somewhere empty in the school and that's how the ended up in the music room in order to talk privately about what happened.

"What the hell could the cops want with Audrey?" Noah questioned, looking at both of the girls. Emma frowned,"Maybe they just wanted to ask her some questions about Rachel." She said, ignoring the thought of something worse. Poppy shook her head,"No, that's a phone call." She informed. "Yeah, that's not a perp walk out of class." Noah agreed, clearly panicking.

He sighed, realizing something. "Mr. Branson." Noah said. "What?" Emma asked, not caught up on this. "We found out the webcam malware came from his homework server and he's using a fake name." Noah explained. "Wait." Emma said, looking at the both of them,"Mr. Branson brings his soup to school in a Thermos." She pointed out how ridiculous they were being. "Villains have to eat, too. Kingpin eats. The Joker eats. Bane probably doesn't because of his mask but it's probably some sort of, like, nutrient milkshake–"

"Hey, Noah, could we focus for one second?" Emma requested. "Yes, sorry." Noah said, recognizing he went on a comic book tangent again. "Well, Mr. B. may have seen us on his laptop." The boy remembered, looking at Poppy. "You don't think that why–" Poppy stopped herself, knowing that wasn't why Audrey was in custody. "If he thought we could expose him, maybe he found a way to implicate Audrey as payback–" Noah continued, stopping when the door of the music room opened.

Mr. Branson looked at the three. "Mr. Branson, hey! Hi!" Noah rushed out his words nervously. "Hi." Emma added, a little bit calmer than Noah. "We were all... just talking scenes. Right?" Noah said. "Right." Poppy confirmed.

The teacher looked at all three of them before his eyes settled on Noah. "Well, that's actually what I wanted to discuss. And considering your propensity for speeches, I'm thinking monologue." Mr. Branson suggested. "Oh, I don't know. I'm kinda shy." Noah said nervously. "Let me show you some options." He said, putting his arm around Noah.

"Oh... uh... sure, okay." Noah said as he was being led out by the teacher. Emma and Poppy watched as Noah left with Mr. Branson. Once the door closed behind them, the two looked at each other. "Okay, what the hell just happened?" Emma asked, losing her calm.

* * *

Emma and Poppy waited outside of Mr. Branson's classroom, waiting for the boy to come out. Finally, Noah appeared and Emma was completely alert. "Noah, what happened?" She questioned. He looked at the two of them," _Henry V_ or _Napoleon Dynamite_. I gotta admit, Mr. Branson so gets my deep-seated hero conflict." Noah said casually. Poppy rolled her eyes,"And here we were ready to call 911." She said.

"Maybe Audrey was right about Branson being innocent. Maybe he's not a psychopath. If Tyler loaded the malware for Nina while he was the student aide... Mr. B could just be this innocent pawn." He guessed. Emma furrowed her brows,"But what about his fake name?" She asked. "Oh, yeah, well... I actually got that covered. I asked Mr. B to input his number into my phone, in case I wanted to rap about monologues. I programmed this app to record his fingerprints." Noah explained, bringing out his phone.

"If we can trace the past..." Emma realized. "We can find out if our beloved Mr. White is actually Heisenberg." Noah finished her sentence. Suddenly Emma's phone rang and she brought it out, realizing it was an unknown number. "Don't answer." Poppy cut in but Emma gave her a look. "That has proven not to be an option." She said.

She answered the call, lifting the phone to her ear. "Hello?" Emma asked. As the person on the other phone responded, Emma frowned. "Audrey, are you okay?" She questioned, clearly worried. "Of course, what?" Emma replied. Before Emma knew it, Audrey hung up on her. "What? What did she say?" Noah asked. Emma turned to look at them. "She wants me to destroy an SD card from the night Nina was murdered." Emma explained.

They all could tell how damning that sounded but none of them wanted to go there. "What do you think is on that card?" Emma asked them. Noah shook his head,"I don't know." He admitted. "I don't care. But we should just go get it." Poppy said, knowing this was all her fault. She wouldn't believe that Audrey was guilty. Especially when she was guilty herself. "Poppy, what it it's–" "Emma, hey... Audrey did not kill Nina." Noah interrupted, looking at the girl.

Emma nodded,"Right. Right. Okay... let's go." She said, letting Poppy lead the way.

* * *

The three of them arrived at Audrey's house, heading for the back when Emma said she knew a way in. Emma moved onto the back porch, lifting one of the potted plants to realize there was no key underneath it. "Damn." She said, looking back at Noah and Poppy. "They used to hide their key there." Emma explained.

Noah nodded,"Yeah, we used to leave our back door unlocked. And then a serial killer happened." He said, putting his hands in his pockets. "Alright, on to Plan B." Poppy suggested, looking at Emma. Noah noticed the look between both girls,"Love me some Plan B. What is it?" He asked them. Emma grabbed a small bird statue and Noah realized what she was doing.

"I hope there's no alarm." He said.

She broke the glass without another thought. Emma looked at her handiwork,"Okay." She said. Noah nodded his head,"Subtle." He told Emma. Poppy unlocked the back door as Emma put down the bird statue. She opened the door and the three of them made their way into Audrey's house.

Emma was the first one to reach Audrey's bedroom. "Where does she keep her SD cards?" She asked Noah. He blinked,"What do I look like, her personal assistant?" Noah asked. Emma shrugged,"You look like someone who might know where she would keep her SD cards." She pointed out.

Poppy blinked, remembering the last time she was in Audrey's room. "I know." She said, stopping them from searching further. She moved over to the drawer, realizing it was locked. "Dammit." Poppy said. Emma joined her, grabbing a small dagger on Audrey's dresser. "Hey, wait! Hold on... uh, that's Elvish." Noah tried explaining. Emma sent him a look. "Great." She said, using it to jam open the locked drawer.

"Here they are." Emma said, opening the drawer. She looked at all of the SD cards and their labels before finding the right one. "Got it." She told them. Noah heard something and looked out the window. "Oh... frak. We got the _policia_. We gotta get out of here." Noah said, heading for the door. "Now, guys." He looked back at Emma and Poppy.

Noah opened the door, taking one step out to see the detective coming up the stairs. "Back." He whispered as he pushed the girls back into the room. "Window." Poppy pointed and the other two didn't question her, knowing they had to get out of there fast.

* * *

"I can't. You do it." Emma lowered the hammer before passing it over to Noah. They were at his work and Noah made sure to close up the shop so they would be alone. He looked at the hammer before taking it but he only set it down.

He shook his head looking at the SD card. "No can do. I feel like Frodo with the ring at Mount Doom." Noah said, looking at Poppy. She blinked, her eyes shifting to the hammer. "I mean, what do you think's on there?" He asked. "I don't know." Emma answered, looking at the redhead also. "I don't think we need to know." Poppy told them. "I... I don't want to break Audrey's trust, but whatever is on there must make her look really guilty." Emma pointed out.

"Of what? Murdering four people, including her girlfriend?" Noah asked. And of blackmailing Poppy, but the redhead didn't say anything. "Do you have any idea how Japanese-gameshow crazy that sounds?" Noah pointed out. Emma frowned,"There's one thing I can't shake." She confessed.

Noah narrowed his eyes at her,"What?" He asked. "That guy who's been calling me? He should be rubbing this in my face right now but since Audrey was taken in, I haven't heard one thing." Emma said. Poppy had to admit, she was right. She should've expected a call too but had received none. "That's what he wants you to think." Poppy argued, refusing to believe the worst of Audrey.

She then received a call and furrowed her brows, answering the phone. "Mom?" Emma asked. "What? No. Of course not." She responded. "Okay." Emma said quietly. "Okay." She repeated before hanging up.

Emma looked at the two of them. "Detective Brock wants to see me at the Sheriff's station." She explained.

* * *

When Emma came back from the police station, she was set on watching whatever was on the SD card.

"Are you absolutely sure about this?" Noah asked her, mostly because he was not sure he wanted to see what was on it. She looked over at the boy,"I'd rather know than wonder." Emma decided. "I gotta be honest, I still have some moral ambivalence." Noah admitted. Poppy looked at him,"Well, no one's making you watch it." She pointed out. "Shut up." He told her. Noah looked at the two of them,"Well, besides... I wouldn't want you two to carry that burden all by yourselves." He said.

Emma frowned at his behavior,"Look, Noah. I just want the truth." She said. Noah nodded,"Okay." He breathed out, nodding his head once again in order to fully assure himself. "Truth." Noah said, looking at the screen. "In glorious HD." He added. "Here we go." He almost wanted to close his eyes as soon as Audrey's face appeared on the screen.

They watched as Audrey exploded on camera. There were tears in the girl's eyes as Rachel had tried to talk her down. Audrey grew angrier and angrier before yelling at her girlfriend to turn the camera off. All three of them sat in silence as the video stopped and they realized that was all of it.

Poppy stared at the screen, knowing that it was Nina who Audrey was so angry at.

"Nina's my cousin." Poppy didn't expect herself to reveal that information but she couldn't stop herself. Noah and Emma looked at her in surprise. "What... what just happened?" Noah asked more himself than anybody else in the room. Emma blinked, looking back to the screen. "Audrey... what did you do?" She wondered out loud before looking at Poppy. "Why'd you make me watch? I can't unsee that now. I can't. I can't unhear what Poppy just said." Noah started panicking.

She frowned at him,"Noah–" Poppy began but he shook his head at her. Emma looked at the two,"Come on... guys... it can't be how it looks. Poppy– Nina... I'm sorry." Emma said, not really knowing what to say to the redhead after what she revealed. She only knew it couldn't be easy seeing someone say that about someone who was family.

"You mean how it looks like premeditated murder?" Noah asked before shaking his head again. "I mean it. I need, like, a _Men in Black_ brain wipe." He sighed. Noah looked down,"She was so angry." He realized. "Noah, we all know Audrey." Poppy started, looking at the two of them. "Yeah, we do." Noah said, stopping her before she could say more. Poppy frowned at him.

"I always believed Audrey was capable of murder, but, like, in an 'isn't my best friend badass, I'll never lose a bar fight' way. But this..." "Noah, you're wrong." Poppy cut him off and looked at Emma. The other girl nodded in agreement. "Okay?" Emma tried talking to him but Noah only frowned at her. "Just take it and go, Emma. Please." He told her.

Noah looked down,"I gotta think, and I don't want it here." He explained. Emma was quick to take the SD card and leave. Poppy got off of the couch but Noah pursed his lips together and shook his head. "You're not going anywhere." He said and Poppy looked at him.

She studied his facial expression,"Noah... I know you're mad." She said. He shook his head,"I'm not mad." He tried telling her as he looked at his hands. "I just don't understand... why didn't you tell me? Or Audrey?" He asked. "Because you guys– you hate Nina. And I get it... Nina was a bitch. And everyone– when I got here... they already compared me to her. Because we look the same. I guess I was just hoping no one would realize we were related. I just... I didn't want you guys to think I was like her... not to mention... Nina– she's not my cousin. I mean... she isn't only my cousin." She confessed.

He furrowed his brows, looking up at her. "What do you mean?" He asked her. Poppy knew she would be admitting something she hadn't told anyone in a long time.

"She's my sister and my cousin." Poppy told him.


End file.
